Chinese firm nails copper case; Gomez turns custom broker.

After six years of court delays, a Chinese trading company has finally won a $7.5 million judgment against a Southland trading company it alleged shipped it "junk" merchandise way back in 1988.

Back then, China-based Shenyang Ying Yun Business Group and Monterey Park-based America Seilum International Enterprise Inc. entered into an agreement for Seilum to ship several containers of copper wiring to Shenyang, said Roger Rosendahl, the attorney representing Ying Yun. He is the administrative partner in the L.A. office of the New York-based law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

Once in China, the copper wire was to be reprocessed, Rosendahl said. Ying Yun paid about $12 million up front for the goods, he said.

However, when the containers arrived, they were filled with some copper wiring, but mostly with "scraps of metal" that could in no way be reprocessed as copper wire, Rosendahl said. The attorney representing Seilum declined to comment.

Ying Yun officials asked Seilum to correct the problem, but to no avail, Rosendahl said. After more than a year of negotiations, Ying Yun filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging breach of contract and fraud, and asking for about $10 million in damages.

Ying Yun then filed motions, that were approved by the judge, to seize Seilum's bank account and property belonging to that company's principals, until a decision was made in the case, Rosendahl said.

Ying Yun also found out Seilum officials had wired the $12 million they'd been paid to an account in Singapore, he said. That account was also traced and seized.

Here comes the clincher. A trial regarding the lawsuit was originally scheduled for 1991. But, because criminal trials took precedence, the trial date was postponed "at least four times," Rosendahl said.

In the meantime, Singapore authorities who had seized the bank account there got tired of waiting and let it out of their clutches, he said.

Ying Yun went to court and asked the judge to order Seilum officials to transfer the money to the court's control in California. As soon as the defendants were given notice that this was about to occur, they transferred the money "to friends they owed money to," and it hasn't been seen since, Rosendahl said.

Finally, on Feb. 21, 1996, the case was settled before a judge. Ying Yun was awarded $7.5 million.

This money represents contractual damages because defective products were delivered for the $12 million paid. The settlement also takes into consideration that some product was actually useful.

"We're pleased that after all these years we finally got it. We're disappointed it's taken so long," said Rosendahl.

Leaving the nest: Mattel Inc.'s former director of import and export operations has left the toy-making giant to start his own customs brokerage and freight forwarding company.

Frank Gomez spent 17 years working for the U.S. Customs Service and nine with El Segundo-based Mattel. And now he feels he has enough experience to go it on his own, he said.

So he resigned from Mattel to launch a customs brokerage firm in January, he said. By April he also hopes to begin offering freight forwarding services as well.

His new 600-square-foot office is in the Air New Zealand cargo building at the Los Angeles International Airport. But the company will not necessarily restrict itself to handling air cargo, Gomez said.

He's still negotiating with various importers, and doesn't have any contracts in place yet, he said. He said he's talking with a shoe importer, an electronics equipment importer and a flower importer.

However, "I would like to focus on the toy industry eventually. That's where my expertise is," he said.

For ethical reasons, Gomez can't do business with Mattel for six months, but hopes he'll be able to after that, he said.

Right now, he's doing business under his own name, but he plans to soon call the new company World Exchange, he said.

Meet and mingle: A group of 55 business people and government officials from Mexico and 80 Southland business people intersected Feb. 22 and 23 at a networking conference in downtown L.A.

The two-day "Southern California-Northwest Mexico Nafta Trade Summit" was sponsored by the Southern California Association of Governments, and was held in its offices.

At the conference, participants held networking sessions to foster new trade deals between them, according to an association statement. Industries represented included automotive and farm equipment parts, clothing and electronic equipment.