90 Investors File Civil Suits Against Pioneer Mortgage

SAN DIEGO — More than 90 disgruntled Pioneer Mortgage investors Friday filed individual civil lawsuits alleging fraudulent activity by former Pioneer Mortgage President Gary Naiman and several law firms, accountants and lending institutions that did business with the financially troubled mortgage investment company.

The suits, filed in San Diego Superior Court, seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of individuals, families and family trusts that had made real estate loans through Pioneer.

The La Mesa-based firm entered bankruptcy proceedings in January.

The suits allege fraudulent activity on the part of San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, First National Bank, California Coast Title Co., accountant Jack R. Sowell, the law firm of Feinstein, Gourley & Burstein. The suits also name Naiman, his wife, Sharon Wayne Naiman, and the Naiman Family Trust.

The people who filed suit on Friday had invested about $30 million through Pioneer, according to Scott L. Metzger, an attorney with Duckor & Spradling, a San Diego-based law firm.

Although the cases were filed individually, “they could be consolidated for discovery purposes and other procedural matters at a later date,” Metzger said.

The Friday suits are in addition to a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court in San Diego on behalf of about 100 other Pioneer investors. That suit also alleges fraudulent activity by Naiman and various banks and accountants that did business with Pioneer.