Oates seeks judgment reduction The developer's lawyers say $7 million in punitive damages was excessive.

December 17, 2002
Section: METRO
Page: B3

By Edgar Sanchez
Bee Staff Writer

--A $7 million judgment against Marvin "Buzz" Oates for defrauding business partners was excessive, lawyers for the Sacramento developer argued Monday in asking a judge to reduce the award.

"This verdict was influenced by passion and prejudice," attorney M. Max Steinheimer said, blasting the Sacramento Superior Court jury that assessed the punitive damages.

Jurors may have been unduly influenced in part by suggestions that Oates, 79, is "the richest man in Sacramento," Steinheimer added.

Retired Judge Lloyd A. Phillips Jr. agreed to study the judgment-reduction request and the question of whether a new penalty phase trial is warranted.

The jury imposed the $7 million punitive judgment after finding that Oates committed fraud with "malice and oppression" after he entered into a business partnership with Christo Bardis, Lloyd and Nancy Arnold and Frank C. Ramos.

In 1989, the group agreed to purchase 298 acres of prime real estate that includes a golf course and Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County.

Oates, who later became the managing partner, was found liable Oct. 31 of breaching the agreements he had with the other partners in the sale of two separate parcels of land totaling 20 acres.

The jury found that Oates had wrongly obtained $165,527 through breaches of fiduciary duties, intentional misrepresentations and fraudulent concealments of the sales of the parcels.

In the penalty phase, Oates' lawyer, Edward Brenner, said an award of "two or three times" the $165,000 in actual damages suffered by the business partners would be enough.

But the plaintiffs' attorney, Edward Freidberg, requested a damage award as high as $10 million.

"This is the wealthiest individual you've ever seen in your life," Freidberg told the jury.

"The emphasis I made about 'the richest man you ever met' was a statement of fact," Freidberg told the judge Monday. "I can't imagine anyone on this jury has met anyone richer."

In September, Oates made Forbes magazine's list of 400 wealthiest Americans. The magazine said he was worth about $800 million, making him No. 288 on the list.

Attorneys for Oates insisted Forbes was wrong; Oates is worth much less, they said.

"Certainly wealth is an issue," Steinheimer said in court. "There's no issue in this case about the defendant having significant wealth. But ... "

Steinheimer also argued that there was insufficient evidence to support some of the jury's other findings.

Freidberg, however, said the evidence was plentiful to support the jury's findings. He maintains there is no need for a new trial.

Steinheimer, who was not involved in the two-month civil trial, has been hired for the appeal process.

If the judge allows the award to stand, "we will appeal the case to the 3rd District Court of Appeal," Steinheimer said.

The judge's ruling is expected by Jan. 3.

Being new to the case, Stein- heimer missed some of its "nuances" in reading trial transcripts, Freidberg said.

Oates declined comment.

* * *
The Bee's Edgar Sanchez can be reached at (916) 321-1132 or esanchez@sacbee.com.