Fabulous Deal Dead?

Fabulous Inns of America’s deal to jointly develop the 22-acre Stardust Hotel site in Mission Valley with a local firm has apparently fallen out of bed.

Last week, Fabulous Inns was unable to agree on “final documentation� to develop the property with Madison Square Partnership, according to Jeffrey Krinsk, chairman of Fabulous Inns. Madison Square general partner Garry Bosstick was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment.

Krinsk said he is scurrying to find another partner and wants to “resurrect the deal with another party.�

Under terms of a court injunction from Fabulous Inns’ ongoing legal battle over who controls the company, Krinsk and president David Yardley are prohibited from spending corporate funds on non-routine business projects such as the Stardust.

The company’s option to develop the Stardust and manage the neighboring 214-acre golf course expires Jan. 15.

12 Years and a New Wardrobe

Our vote for the most creative holiday greeting card this year goes to Gary Sutton and his family--wife Nancy and daughters Stacy and Lindsay.

The card reads “Celebrate� on the cover and “The Seasons They Pass Too Fast!� on the inside. On the inside facing page there are two color photos of the Suttons. One is captioned Denver, 1973, and shows the family in a tree-lined park, each with long, flowing hair and each dressed in counterculture garb. The other picture is titled La Jolla, 1985, with La Jolla Cove in the background and the family attired in casual, preppie-style clothes.

“I was reflecting on what Christmas means, and I thought back on old friends and the past,� said Gary, now president of U.S. Press, a San Diego-based subsidiary of Intermark Inc., which also is based here. In 1973, Sutton, looking the hippie part, was a division director for Honeywell, traveling frequently abroad to negotiate corporate contracts.

In addition to updating their looks, the card--400 were sent to family, friends and business associates--also reveals their current activities: Nancy works at a preschool, Stacy is a business student at UC Berkeley and Lindsay is a math major at UCLA.

The Percentage in Fighting

So you’re going to take a tax dispute to court? The odds for taxpayers emerging victorious vary dramatically depending on what court John or Jane Doe decides to battle in, according to Steres, Alpert & Carne’s December “Client’s Monthly Alert� newsletter.

Taxpayers were most successful last year in the federal court of claims, where disputes are litigated after citizens pay their taxes. In that court, the taxpayer and the Internal Revenue Service each won 46.3% of the time, with the rest representing “no win� rulings, or split decisions.

Taxpayers won cases in U.S. District Court 33.8% of the time, 14.9% in U.S. Courts of Appeals and 8.5% in U.S. Tax Court.

The Tax Court is the toughest nut for taxpayers to crack. They win 7.1% of “small� tax cases and 6.3% of all others.

By Any Other Name . . .

Nick Felfe didn’t have to hire a management consulting firm to change the name of his professional office automation services company from its rather mundane Office Career Companies. Instead, he invoked that age-old marketing technique of involving his clients in the decision-making process.

So, after sending questionnaires to about 50 of his clients, Office Professionals Inc. emerged.

If the difference doesn’t exactly stand out, the technique nonetheless worked: Each client feels that it played a part.