Judge Refuses to Kick Suns’ Owner Off Board

A judge denied an angry stockholder’s request Monday that owner Don DiCarlo be kicked off the board of directors of Oxnard’s minor league baseball team.

Paul Regina, an 18% shareholder of the Pacific Suns baseball team, on Thursday requested a temporary restraining order to remove DiCarlo from the board, to prevent him from “continuing a course of malfeasance and intentional wrongdoing . . . which has depleted the assets of the corporation and its shareholders.”

Ventura Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane denied the request, telling Regina’s attorney that he did not follow proper legal procedure.

“This is completely legally insufficient,” Lane told attorney Garry S. Malin before making her ruling. “It appears you just used this proceeding to make comments you want to make against the DiCarlos.”

Malin acknowledged that he did not serve DiCarlo or his attorney, Gregory Ramirez, with the complaint, saying he feared such notice would prompt them to hide corporate assets.

Ramirez said the only documents he received were given to him by members of the media. He told the judge he had a list of declarations from those who support the DiCarlo family, and that the suit is a publicity stunt.

“The DiCarlos have had to endure three days of character assassination--not having a chance to respond--and not being served with a complaint,” he said.

After the hearing, Malin admitted that his request for a temporary restraining order was “hastily filed” in an effort to get it to court quickly.

“Sometimes you have to take a stab,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Regina separately filed a suit against DiCarlo for allegedly misrepresenting the value of team stock and conspiring with his family members to defraud shareholders.

Regina, a Thousand Oaks resident, brought the lawsuit against DiCarlo and Channel Islands Sports Management, the Oxnard-based corporation that owns and operates the minor league baseball team.

DiCarlo is team president and chairman of its board of directors. The lawsuit also names DiCarlo’s wife, Karen, and his father, Anthony, who are also board members.

In the lawsuit, Regina accuses DiCarlo and his family of defrauding Suns shareholders by selling them stock for more than it was worth. It alleges that DiCarlo wrongfully converted corporate funds into his family trust, and has since diminished the value of the team.

A string of troubles have followed DiCarlo’s team since its days in Palm Springs.

In a declaration attached to the lawsuit, Western Baseball League founder Bruce L. Engel accuses DiCarlo of leaving a trail of debt and unhappy minority shareholders, fans and vendors in the team’s former desert home.

“The Suns’ activities and difficulties in Palm Springs were an embarrassment to the [Western Baseball League],” Engel said in the court papers.

He asks in the court documents that the court appoint an interim operating manager to “right the ship.”

League Director Tom Kowitz told The Times on Saturday that the Suns may owe as much as $500,000--but on Monday he acknowledged that many of those claims may be baseless.

“That figure is really a mythical figure,” he said.

He also said that all accusations of money owed by the team is not necessarily debt.

“There are people who allege that they were promised shares of the club. I have no idea if the claims are valid. But that’s the kind of thing I would not characterize as debt,” he said.

A former Suns manager who worked for the team in Palm Springs said Monday that he wasn’t surprised to hear of the latest legal action.

Jamie Nelson, who is now assistant baseball coach at Cal State Northridge, said he is trying to recover at least $2,000 in wages he alleges DiCarlo still owes him.

Nelson said he is also contemplating legal action and noted that several of his predecessors have successfully sued DiCarlo to recover unpaid wages.

Michael Begley, the Suns’ general manager, said Monday that any unpaid bills the team might have had during their Palm Springs days have since been settled.

Cory Alan Forgue, public relations director for the Reno Chukars, said the Pacific Suns are well known around the league for their unusual method of operating a ballclub.

The Suns’ ballpark at Oxnard College has a meager press box, which Forgue said has forced him to broadcast games from a concession stand.

And last Friday, the struggling team traded its best pitcher to a Mississippi club for 50 pounds of catfish, an unspecified amount of cash and a player to be named later.

Lawyers on both sides of the pending lawsuit said they will continue discussions.

Kowitz, the league director, said his chief hope is that the games will continue.

“The league’s main concern is that the club get through the season,” he said. “We want very badly for that team to finish the year.”

MacGregor is a Times staff writer. Green is a correspondent.