TMI Principal Booed During Partners’ Vote on Its Ouster

In a meeting that sometimes turned hostile, limited partners in Parducci Winery Ltd. voted Thursday on whether to oust troubled Teachers Management & Investment as their general partner in charge of operating the Mendocino County winery.

Results of the vote, however, won’t be available until sometime next week, sources for each side said. An independent company is counting the ballots.

At the meeting, some limited partners booed James R. Martin, a TMI principal who helped to argue the company’s case. TMI’s other principal, Maurice B. Shuman, also was present.

The Newport Beach investment company lost control of most of its other partnerships to a court-appointed receiver in October 1994 after investors sued it and the operators. Investors accused them of fraud in the loss of more than $100 million.

But TMI, which managed retirement funds for some 20,000 teachers statewide, managed to retain control of the Parducci Wine Cellars, which the partnership has owned for 23 years. TMI narrowly defeated an effort last summer to oust it.

At that time, TMI said a sale was pending with a buyer it wouldn’t identify, but no sale occurred. Recently, it said it has a $19.1-million sale pending with Domain Hill & Mayes, a Napa wine company.

A Domain Hill executive said the sale, which is subject to a host of contingencies, is not dependent on TMI remaining as general partner. Limited partners, he said, could oust TMI and still sell the winery under the deal.