(CNS) Posted Wednesday September 1, 2010 - 9:25am
Lawyers for Westwood-based Chabad of California Inc. and the widow of the Ameriquest Mortgage founder will be back in court for more trial testimony today after a settlement effort between both sides on Tuesday produced no agreement concerning a $17.5 million dispute.
Roland Arnall made a fortune because of the sub prime mortgage industry he helped create with Orange County-based Ameriquest, one of the nation's leading sub prime lenders.
Ameriquest was founded in 1979.
Arnall -- ambassador to the Netherlands under former President George W. Bush from March 2006 to March 2008 -- was known for giving money to his favorite causes, particularly Chabad, one he had championed for more than three decades.
But when he died at 68 in March 2008 soon after leaving his ambassador's post, the one-time billionaire's assets were significantly diminished by the collapse of the sub prime industry.
Westwood-based Chabad last Oct. 1 sued his widow, Dawn Arnall, and her late husband's estate in Los Angeles Superior Court for $17.5 million.
They say that is what is due on an $18 million pledge Roland Arnall made in 2004.
Despite a lack of a written agreement, Chabad officials said that Arnall promised the $18 million when he asked the organization to build an Arnall Family Center on property it owns on Pico Boulevard.
Judge Mary Ann Murphy began hearing a non-jury trial in the case earlier this summer, but on Aug. 9 she interrupted testimony so that the parties could meet with Judge Peter D. Lichtman on Tuesday to try and settle the case.
That effort failed and Dawn Arnall is scheduled to take the stand today when the trial resumes.
Attorneys for Dawn Arnall have said that the suit is frivolous.
