Outgoing Padres owner to appear in court next week
Nov 4, 2009 By City News Service
By JAMES R. RIFFEL
A hearing is scheduled for next week on whether the estranged wife of outgoing Padres owner John Moores can add a real estate finance firm to the list of companies subject to California's community property laws in their divorce case.
Lawyer Sandra Joan Morris, in a court document filed on behalf of Rebecca Moores, said John Moores capitalized JMI Guaranty LLC with $14 million of the couple's money. The firm is primarily used to provide credit for John Moores' various real estate projects.
JMI Realty is John Moores' development company, which was responsible for projects around Petco Park in the East Village.
John and Rebecca Moores, who met in high school, married in 1963 and separated in October 2007, according to court records.
Rebecca Moores cited irreconcilable differences with her husband, but recent court files stated that he had been in a long-term relationship with former San Diego gynecologist Dianne Rosenberg.
Morris asked a judge for help in getting a deposition from the Rosenberg, who is now believed to be living in Houston.
"The witness, Ms. Rosenberg, is in a lengthy, personal, social and romantic relationship with (John Moores)," Morris wrote in a court document.
The lawyer stated that she believes community funds were spent on Rosenberg's behalf and that her client has a right to reimbursement.
She asked for evidence regarding all correspondence between John Moores and Rosenberg beginning in 2004, her financial records, information on trips she took alone and with John Moores, expenses that were paid on her behalf, and a list of jewelry he gave her worth more than $1,000.
A spokeswoman in Morris' legal office declined to comment. David Noonan, an attorney for John Moores, was not immediately available.
Trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 3 before Lorna Alksne, the supervising judge of Family Court.
Morris withdrew a petition to have another Moores firm, Neon Enterprise Software of Sugar Land, Texas, dissolved as part of any divorce resolution.
The lawyer claimed she was blocked until recently from deposing CEO Lacy Edwards and discovered a number of products being developed show promise of being commercially viable.
The divorce prompted Moores to sell his majority share of the local major league franchise to a group led by former player agent Jeff Moorad. The complicated sale arrangement has Moorad taking over the team in phases over several years, with Moores slowly reducing his stake.
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