An arbitrator has ruled on a legal dispute between R.J. Brandes and Joan Irvine Smith over a South County horse exhibition center.
The lawsuit pitted two of the county’s most prominent people,Brandes, a financier and chairman of Irvine’s Gatekeeper Systems Inc., and Smith, great-granddaughter of Irvine Ranch founder James Irvine,against each other.
Arbitrator Gary L. Taylor, a retired federal judge, ruled that Brandes didn’t cheat Irvine Smith, according to N. Christian Anderson, former Orange County Register publisher who is serving as a spokesman for Brandes.
“I am gratified to be vindicated by this ruling,” Brandes said in a statement.
Smith’s lawyer, Mark Ashworth of Newport Beach’s Ashworth & Ashworth LLP, called the ruling a draw.
The arbitrator found no prevailing party and declined to award legal fees, costs, or expenses, he said.
Brandes and Smith struck a partnership in 1998 to hold horse shows and other events at neighboring horse parks in San Juan Capistrano.
Smith filed the lawsuit in mid-2007, claiming Brandes mismanaged the partnership and falsified financial records.
Brandes responded with a suit against Smith that alleged she misrepresented herself going into the partnership. That suit was denied.
Smith’s suit was submitted to arbitration.
The arbitrator’s ruling is binding and doesn’t allow for appeal.
In 1984, Brandes started Belgravia Capital Corp., a commercial real estate finance and mortgage company. In 1997, he sold Belgravia Capital to Finova Group Inc. in a deal reported to be worth $90 million.
Around that time, he also sold Belgravia Financial Services LLC, a lender to mobile home buyers, to Ford Motor Credit Co. for undisclosed terms.
Brandes went on to buy Blenheim Farms, a home next to a 17-acre horse park in San Juan Capistrano that hosted the 2000 and 2004 Olympic equestrian trials.
He recently put the estate up for sale for $40 million.
Smith is one of the county’s most known philanthropists and is a big supporter of environmental causes and the University of California, Irvine.
Last year, she gave $1 million to UC Irvine’s law school that’s set to open in 2009.
