Sheriff, Wife Named in Lawsuit Over Equestrian Center Finances

An investor is suing a San Juan Capistrano equestrian center that includes Sheriff Brad Gates and his wife as partners, alleging more than $250,000 in rent has been due since 1993.

Chicago-based Burns Family Foundation, one of several partners in the 17-acre property, is demanding the equestrian center pay up or face eviction, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court.

Brad and Diana Gates, who are named as defendants and listed in the suit as the “sole directors and officers” of Creekside Equestrian Center Inc., could not be reached for comment.

The foundation’s suit alleges that in September 1994, the Gateses persuaded a majority of project partners to approve postponing the rental payments until 2001, an action the foundation said it “adamantly opposed.”

The foundation alleges that the Gateses have a conflict of interest because they are partners in both the group that owns the land and the group that owns and operates the Creekside Equestrian Center.

The center also faces a “substantial risk” of foreclosure on a $1-million loan that the foundation alleges harms its financial stake in the land, according to the suit, which also seeks punitive damages.

The center on San Juan Creek Road celebrated its official opening in 1993, with plans to board more than 400 horses, an animal hospital, a child-care center, a covered show arena and an equestrian library.

Diana Gates had launched the project several years earlier amid dissent from some locals who were concerned about the center’s size. The San Juan Capistrano Planning Commission approved the project in 1988.