Family feud

The Arizona Republic published a fascinating but ultimately sad story about family members’ fight over the Gilbert Ortega Sr. estate.

Ortega began his silver and turquoise empire as a Route 66 in Lupton, Ariz., by selling American Indian trinkets during the 1960s. That eventually grew to an estimated $40 million enterprise, with jewelry and Indian arts stores sprinkled throughout the Southwest.

Ortega died in 2003 at age 67, and his son Gilbert Jr. took over the operation. But the future of estate now is tied up in court:

The dispute involves a lawsuit and countersuit between the Ortega siblings, their mother, Linda Ortega, and David Stocking, an accountant for the family business. The legal claims involve allegations of drug use, mismanagement and a battle for control of the three remaining stores and commercial real-estate holdings.

Gilbert Ortega Jr.’s three sisters – Gayle, Desiree and Renee – contend he is not fit to run the business and they attempted to take control two years ago. That prompted Gilbert Jr. to file suit against his sisters claiming they acted illegally in firing him, which conflicted with their father’s wishes that Gilbert Jr. would run the company.

His younger sister Renee responded with a countersuit alleging Gilbert Jr. raided the family business and failed to properly manage the family trust.

Gilbert Jr. won a temporary injunction in the fall of 2008 that allowed him to resume his leadership of the company, but legal proceedings in the civil cases continue.

The whole thing is worth reading. And it serves as a cautionary tale about the potential pitfalls of family-owned businesses.

4 thoughts on “Family feud

  1. I studied this subject (leaving business to family) for a college course years ago. Even then, with no Internet, it was usually the best bet to sell a business and distribute proceeds rather than pass in on to family, especially children. This was even moreso with kids who had little if any college or that level school or training.

    In smaller, family business operations like this one, it’s always best to pass the on. But, who does what should be clearly drawn up in a will and trust overseen by outsiders (trust mgrs, etc).

    I don’t really get a good idea here just what they were trying to do. There is a trust to oversee something, then operations of the businesses and then some kind of board of directors to do something. I tend to agree with the point that the sisters had no right to enter into such a call when they weren’t even designated as trustees.

    The son, however, sounds like a real clown. I can see where the family doesn’t trust him and wants him out. Or at least well medicated. The feeling that someone like Elvis in 1977 is running your family trust isn’t good for sleeping well.

  2. I think if you do some research, you will find that there is more than one branch of the Ortega family who runs or ran indian stores. There was an Ortega’s Indian Store here in Springfield, Missouri in the early ’80’s and I worked for them then, although too much time has passed for me to remember exactly which Ortega owned it. I do know that there was alot of competition between the family members even back then, and they were always trying to out do each other. It’s sad that it has come to such an argumentive end for the one family group. They always had authentic, high quality goods in their stores.

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