Case Transfer Delays Trial of First Pension Corp. Lawsuit : Courts: Judge pleads overwork and passes on the fraud action against Rep. Cox and Commissioner Mendoza.

Trial of a suit accusing Rep. Christopher Cox and state Department of Corporations Commissioner Gary Mendoza of fraud when the two worked as attorneys representing First Pension Corp. was delayed Wednesday when a judge transferred it to another court.

Saying he was too swamped to give the complex case the attention it deserves, Orange County Superior Court Judge James H. Poole sent the case to Judge Tully H. Seymour, who specializes in intricate cases.

The suit, brought by investors who lost $136 million in the First Pension Corp. investment fraud, names Cox, Mendoza and five others as defendants. The Irvine pension administrator collapsed last year after investigators discovered that thousands of its mostly elderly clients were being enticed into buying phony real estate mortgages.

An attorney for Cox, a Republican congressman from Newport Beach, said he had no comment. An attorney for the investors, about 50 of whom attended the hearing, said the transfer will help make sure the case gets the full scrutiny it deserves.

The case alleges that Cox and Mendoza, working as attorneys for the firm of Latham & Watkins in the 1980s before they went into public service, were involved in a cover-up of the fraud that bilked First Pension investors out of $136 million.

Both men have refuted the allegations. Cox has said that the suit is politically motivated.

A new hearing has not yet been scheduled.