In Brief: Lender to Appeal $5M Retirement-Home Verdict

CVB Financial Corp. said last week that it will appeal a jury verdict in which it was ordered to pay nearly $4.9 million to a San Diego development firm.

Ontario, Calif.-based CVB was found guilty in May of negligence and fraud in connection with a $2.7 million loan that its Citizens Business Bank made to Tri-National Development Corp. in 1992.

The dispute stems from the sale of a retirement home to Tri-National. Citizens, which had foreclosed on a previous developer, sold the property to Tri-National for $6.27, financing $2.7 million.

Tri-National defaulted on that loan because it could not find enough tenants. Tri-National claimed in court that it defaulted because it was misled by Citizens about the availability of an adjacent parking lot.

The jury agreed. CVB's motions to vacate the jury and for a new trial were denied Aug. 14. CVB announced its decision to file an appeal last week.

"We are at a loss to understand the rationale of this decision," said Lynn Wiley, president and chief executive officer of $1.3 billion-asset CVB. "We believe our position is clearly supported by the facts, and the verdict is inconsistent with other findings made by the jury at trial."

The $4.9 million judgment would reduce CVB's net earnings by about $3 million. The company earned 17.4 million in 1997.

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