Judge Is Into Business

U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving has had his share of hot-seat cases in the last year. First he coordinated the legal proceedings of the J. David & Co. financial fiasco. In an unusual move for a bankruptcy case, he seized financier J. David Dominelli’s passport before anyone knew how to spell Montserrat.

Recently he has been hearing arguments in the John Z. DeLorean case, as attorneys argue the ins and outs of selling the former carmaker’s Pauma Valley house.

On Monday, the two cases collided in court, and Irving sat through two consecutive hours of legal wranglings--first with the DeLorean case and then with J. David.

The clashes between lawyers in the DeLorean case was especially brutal, prompting Irving to quip, “If this case goes to trial, I may have to have the marshal’s office issue flak jackets.�

In the J. David case, Irving delayed ruling on whether to extend legal discovery deadlines on the so-called preference payments--those funds paid to investors during the 90 days before the Feb. 13 J. David bankruptcy.

Trustee Louis Metzger estimates that $25 million to $30 million may have been paid to about 350 people during that time. Nearly $3 million in preference payments has been recovered from about 130 former investors.

11 Growers Praised

Eleven area firms show up in Money magazine’s 1984 ranking of growth stocks. The 1,484 listed companies are all members of the New York Stock Exchange. The firms, in order of highest rank, include Christiana Cos. Inc., Home Federal Savings & Loan Assn., Great American First Savings Bank, Rohr Industries, San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Kyocera, Imperial Corp., Signal Cos. Inc., PSA Inc., Vendo Co. and Oak Industries.