O.C. Judge Clears Way for Partners in Winery to Vote on Ousting TMI

SANTA ANA — An Orange County judge Wednesday refused to block a second attempt to oust troubled Teachers Management & Investment Corp. as manager of Parducci Wine Cellars.

Superior Court Judge John C. Woolley denied TMI’s request to halt a May 23 meeting of limited partners in Parducci Winery Ltd., which owns the Mendocino County winery. The partners are scheduled to vote on whether to depose TMI as general partner.

The Parducci partnership is one of the few TMI investments that is still controlled by the Newport Beach company. A court-appointed receiver has been overseeing nearly three dozen TMI partnerships, mostly investments in raw land, and some investors in the winery want him to manage Parducci as well.

Last July, TMI blocked an effort to remove it by persuading investors that it had a sale in the works with an unidentified New York buyer. The sale never materialized. But now TMI says it has a $19.1-million deal in the works with Domain Hill & Mayes, a Napa wine company.

Teachers filed a class-action lawsuit nearly two years ago alleging that Maurice B. Shuman and James R. Martin, who took control of TMI in 1988, had diverted funds for their own use. TMI is seeking $100 million in losses.

Shuman and Martin assert that the recession eroded property values, inhibiting sales, and that property taxes and other costs for maintenance of the properties caused most of the losses.