John Bedrosian

NME Co-Founder Files Lawsuit: John C. Bedrosian, fired as senior executive vice president of National Medical Enterprises Inc. last month, is suing the hospital operator for more than $20 million. His lawsuit, filed in Santa Monica, accuses the company of breach of contract, age discrimination, conspiracy and libel. NME said it had met the terms of his contract and will vigorously contest the suit.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday that a California appeals court panel had significantly reduced a $253-million damage award for a former executive who sued over unpaid benefits. The court panel ruled Tuesday that interest owed to John C. Bedrosian should be calculated from Oct. 3, 2002, instead of April 1995. That reduced the award to $148 million. Tenet had petitioned for a rehearing.

Garbo, Soda and Sam--a basset, a bulldog and a Labrador--frolic on a beautiful flagstone terrace. Enormous sycamores tower everywhere against a grassy backdrop ascending into the affluent hills of Bel-Air. The dogs are all over Judy and John Bedrosian. If happy pets reflect happy owners, then the Bedrosians are most happy. They're also generous givers and generous volunteers, on the corporate and personal levels. Saturday evening at the Beverly Hilton, Group Effort '90 will recognize them.

NME Co-Founder Files Lawsuit: John C. Bedrosian, fired as senior executive vice president of National Medical Enterprises Inc. last month, is suing the hospital operator for more than $20 million. His lawsuit, filed in Santa Monica, accuses the company of breach of contract, age discrimination, conspiracy and libel. NME said it had met the terms of his contract and will vigorously contest the suit.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday that a California appeals court panel had significantly reduced a $253-million damage award for a former executive who sued over unpaid benefits. The court panel ruled Tuesday that interest owed to John C. Bedrosian should be calculated from Oct. 3, 2002, instead of April 1995. That reduced the award to $148 million. Tenet had petitioned for a rehearing.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said the California State Supreme Court let stand an appellate court decision to award about $148 million to a former executive who was fired 10 years ago. The court also denied a petition by John Bedrosian, the fired executive and a founder of Tenet's predecessor company, to reverse a lower-court decision that reduced the award from about $253 million and to reimburse his legal fees.

Auto-By-Tel Inc., which is mounting an aggressive and expensive campaign to become the nation's premier automobile marketer on the Internet, said Friday that it intends to go public and hopes to raise as much as $55 million with the initial stock offering. The company, started two years ago by a group that included Pete Ellis, a well-known former Southern California auto dealer, links shoppers with auto dealerships that typically offer special prices to customers who shop via the Internet.

Autobytel.com, a money-losing Irvine firm that is seeking to capitalize on consumers' growing acceptance of using the Internet to buy things, went public Friday and saw its shares soar 75%. The 4-year-old company's stock offering raised $103.5 million on a day that saw most other technology stocks fall. Its shares, which were priced at $23 on Thursday night, rose as high as $58 before closing at $40.25 by day's end on Nasdaq. That values the company, which lost $19.4 million on sales of $23.

A proposed merger between Encino-based Valley State Bank and Olympic National Bancorp, a Westside bank-holding company, has been delayed indefinitely, according to a statement released Monday by both organizations. But the statement, issued by Olympic Chairman David C. Pierson and Valley State Chairman John C. Bedrosian, said "the banks intend to stay in close communication and have not abandoned their intention to combine in the future. . . .

Valley State Bank in Encino reported Thursday that about $600,000 has been embezzled from its precious-metals division and that an employee suspected of the crime has disappeared. The FBI is investigating the theft, which was discovered Dec. 30, the bank said. "Let's just say he did not return to work," bank Chairman John C. Bedrosian said of the employee, whose name was not disclosed. "The theft was very sophisticated," Bedrosian said.

Garbo, Soda and Sam--a basset, a bulldog and a Labrador--frolic on a beautiful flagstone terrace. Enormous sycamores tower everywhere against a grassy backdrop ascending into the affluent hills of Bel-Air. The dogs are all over Judy and John Bedrosian. If happy pets reflect happy owners, then the Bedrosians are most happy. They're also generous givers and generous volunteers, on the corporate and personal levels. Saturday evening at the Beverly Hilton, Group Effort '90 will recognize them.

When it's the most successful fund-raising dinner in USC's history--a net of $1.2 million--the guest of honor has the right to the mike. Richard K. Eamer, whose wife Eileen also was honored by USC's Cancer Research Associates at the Beverly Hilton, was a bit long-winded, but he also proved he could have been a wonderful stand-up comic. He had a black-tie audience of 600 spellbound with his racy quips.