Baldwins Pay to Avoid Court Look at Assets

Seeking to avoid a court examination of their assets and the forced auction of their art and antique collections, Newport Beach builders James and Alfred Baldwin paid $2.2 million to a former company executive late Monday to settle a court-ordered judgment.

The decision to pay means that $1 million worth of art and collectibles seized from the brothers’ Emerald Bay residences on July 29 now will be returned to them.

The judgment was obtained earlier this year by Geoffrey Fearns, former president of Baldwin Co.’s Orange County division. He resigned in late 1993 and later filed a wrongful-termination claim against the home building company and its owners, claiming he was pressured into quitting and deprived of money owed him under a profit-sharing agreement.

The court-appointed arbitrator in the case ruled against Fearns on the wrongful-termination claim but said the Baldwin brothers were personally liable for the profit-sharing funds. The total of $2.2 million includes interest and attorney fees.

Fearns was unable to collect money directly from Baldwin Co. because the brothers put the business into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 1995.

Fearns obtained an order to seize some of the brothers’ personal assets last month after he filed court documents in which he said the Baldwins had told him they did not have sufficient assets to pay him.

That apparently was not the case, however, because an attorney for the brothers delivered a certified check for nearly $2.25 million to Fearns’ attorney about 5:30 p.m. Monday.

James Baldwin had been scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Tuesday to answer questions about his personal assets, but the payment canceled the court session.

Neither the Baldwins nor their attorney could be reached for comment.

Gary Waldron, Fearns’ lawyer, said the Baldwins still must pay about $50,000 in costs associated with the seizure of their property, but he said he expected the property, which included paintings, sculptures, antiques and collectibles, to be returned to the Baldwins “within a few days.”

Separately, Waldron is representing another former Baldwin division head who has filed a $35-million breach of contract and wrongful-termination suit against the brothers. That case is pending.