No shortage of OC ties to ongoing legal cases against Toyota over charges that sudden acceleration on some of its models was occurring due to an electronic defect. A recent $1.1 billion settlement on claims for economic damages came in Santa Ana, a location chosen in part because it’s within the federal court system’s Central District of California—which includes Toyota’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance—and partly because of the strong reputation for OC’s trial judges. Up next in Santa Ana are personal injury and wrongful death cases, with Mark Robinson of Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs. Wylie Aitken of Aitken Aitken Cohn is representing clients in the class-action suit involving economic damages and continues as liaison counsel on the case—the point person between the court and myriad law firms involved. That role didn’t end with the recent settlement, which includes $215 million in cash for claims of lost value to wholesalers and others. The other $900 million or so will go for warranties, brake over-ride systems, and other fixes or offsets. How will the billing be divided among the coast-to-coast cadre of lawyers? “That’s a simple issue,” kids Aitken. “Lawyers tend to sit around nicely and come to quick agreements on those sorts of things.” Robinson, meanwhile, is no doubt set for a full-throated argument on behalf of his clients, with a trial date set for February in Judge Jim Selna’s courtroom …
Other auto news: The folks at Barrett-Jackson say there was too much overhead to justify coming back to the OC Fairgrounds for a fourth annual auction of muscle cars, classics and contemporary collectibles …
First Foundation Advisors Chairman Rick Keller is rooting for someone to fill the gap on the classic-car front in OC. Keller is working to turn a fire-engine red 1998 Ferrari Testarossa into some cash for the UC Irvine Diabetes Center, where he serves on the executive committee. The car came as a recent gift to his brother, Peter, who’s being treated at the center. The brothers are looking for the best spot to use it for fundraising, and a bit wary of putting the car in Barrett-Jackson’s auction next week in Scottsdale, where there are already 50 vehicles set for bidding in the fundraising category. They figure a local auction would bring the best chance of getting the most for the diabetes center. ….
Want a sign of the real estate market’s improvement? Reporter Mark Mueller notes that Santa Ana title insurer First American Financial Corp. and sister real estate data company CoreLogic Inc. split in 2010, but the two companies remained quite similar in one key way as of late last week, when they had identical market valuations of $2.66 billion. It took both companies combined to total a valuation of about $2.6 billion just a little more than a year ago …
Mueller also picked up this as a sidebar to news that Peregrine Realty Partners has made its first OC buy and is looking for more across SoCal (see story, this page). Peregrine partner Stephen Zotovich is looking to expand his family-run winery known as Zotovich Cellars. Wine from the Santa Rita Hills-based vineyard is served in about 14 local restaurants, including Park Avenue, Roy’s and Bayside. Zotovich hopes to have his vintage in 50 before this year’s out.
