Orange County Paying Minors Fully

Orange County bankruptcy attorney Bruce Bennett said Friday that the county has honored all withdrawal requests from minors who had money from court settlements in the county’s collapsed investment pool, and plans to continue to reimburse them in full, although others with court-related accounts will probably get only 70 to 75 cents on the dollar.

The county also plans to pay the minors the interest earned on their settlements since the county’s bankruptcy filing Dec. 6. That money will probably be available for withdrawal within two weeks, when the pool’s assets are disbursed under a settlement agreement approved this week by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John E. Ryan, Bennett added.

“We’ve been giving them 100 cents (on the dollar) since the very beginning of the case,” Bennett said of the estimated 420 children who won court settlements, mostly in personal injury cases, and invested a total of $7 million in the county’s pool.

Earlier this week, Presiding Orange County Superior Court Judge James L. Smith said county advisers were urging judges to help spread the loss suffered by the $7.4-billion pool among those minors who had invested in the pool by paying them 70 to 75 cents on the dollar when they request withdrawals.

Bennett denied that Friday, saying the minors--who have a relatively small share of the court accounts--are being paid in full.

But “inter-pleader accounts”--in which two parties are fighting over money won in a court settlement--are receiving 70 to 75 cents on the dollar, Bennett said.