Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Mon, Mar 9 1992 Date: Mon, 9 Mar 92 05:46:24 EST Message-ID: 03-09 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update March 9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LAW FIRM MUST PAY $41 MILLION: Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, a law firm that worked for Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan, has agreed to pay $41 million to settle charges brought by federal regulators, the Office of Thrift Supervision said Sunday. It was accused last week of deliberately misleading regulators about financial problems and wrongdoing at the Irvine, Calif., savings and loan. (For more, see special Thrift package below.) PARTNERS NO LONGER SAFE: A recent survey by Hildebrandt Inc. found that 60% of law firms with 100 or more lawyers have jettisoned partners the past 18 months. "There have been a lot of partner layoffs. ... It's quite disconcerting," says Warren Harris, a fourth-year associate with Porter & Clements in Houston. In the past, firms unloaded support personnel and associate lawyers in hard times. PARTNERS MUST JUSTIFY PAY: Corporate clients have cut legal fees, which forced law firms to cut costs, says Steven Brill, editor of The American Lawyer. Partners have to work harder to justify their pay checks. "There was a sense at one time that being made partner was almost akin to being given tenure, but today, I think that's quite different," says Northwestern University School's Lawrence Marshall. MONSANTO WINS SUIT: A verdict was rendered Friday against Crum and Forster, Inc. and several of its subsidiaries in a suit brought by Monsanto Company. Monsanto alleged that the company and four of its insurance subsidiaries breached their duty of good faith and fair dealing and the Texas Insurance Code. Crum and Forster, Inc. is the property casualty insurance unit of Xerox Financial Services, Inc. CANADIAN LUMBER FACES TARIFF: A 14.5% import duty is needed to offset Canadian subsidies on wood shipped to the USA, the Commerce Department said in a preliminarily ruling. The Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission will make a final review by summer. Canada says it does not subsidize its lumber exports. ZUCKERMAN MAY BUY DAILY NEWS: Crain's New York Business says developer Mortimer Zuckerman and Canadian publisher Conrad Black are leading contenders to take over the troubled New York Daily News. The Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection in December. Zuckerman owns U.S. News & World Report and the Atlantic Monthly. Black's holdings include The Daily Telegraph in Britain. FARE INCREASE DELAYED: Airlines in bankruptcy Friday balked at efforts to impose a fare increase, forcing healthier competitors to postpone the plan. United Airlines, pushing a 2% hike on domestic discount tickets, said the price increase now has been set for March 14. Continental, one of three major carriers in Chapter 11, had entered the delay into reservations computers. IRS GOES AFTER GOTTSCHALKS: Gottschalks Inc. said Friday it is conducting an investigation in tandem with an Internal Revenue Service investigation of the company's tax return for fiscal year ended Feb. 1, 1986. The company is voluntarily supplying information requested by the IRS. The investigation relates to the company's deduction on its 1985 tax return of amounts contributed to an employee benefit plan. NISSEN HEARING SET FOR APRIL: A hearing is set for April 9 to determine whether Nissen Co. meat packing plant of Webster City, Iowa, will go into receivership. The Firm officially closed its doors Saturday, citing lack of work. Most of 60 workers were laid off in January. Civil lawsuits and unfair labor practice claims are pending. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON THRIFT: $275 MILLION ORIGINALLY SOUGHT: The Office of Thrift Supervision had sought $275 million from the law firm that worked for Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan. It settled for $41 million Sunday. In settling, the law firm denied wrongdoing. Lincoln failed in 1989, costing taxpayers $2.6 billion. GOVERNMENT MAKING MOVE: The case settled Sunday is part of a government campaign against lawyers, accountants and other professionals it says contributed to S&L failures. Regulators have three years after an S&L fails to file lawsuits. Nearly 600 S&Ls failed in 1989 and 1990, so the government is under the gun to file suits in time. TWO ACCOUNTING FIRMS SUED: Friday, the Resolution Trust Corp. sued accounting firms Deloitte & Touche for $150 million, charging that its "gross negligence" contributed to the 1989 failure of Ortero S&L. The RTC also sued New York-based accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick for $100 million, accusing it of negligence in audits of Hill Financial Savings Association of Red Hill, Pa., which failed in 1989. (End of package.) Business Law Editor: Ed Kelleher. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM