Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Mon, Jul 27 1992 Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 04:22:00 EDT Message-ID: 07-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update July 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SOME BUSINESSES MAY STAY AWAY: Small-business owners have begun rebuilding after five days of rioting this spring. But disaster relief statistics indicate many won't return. With three weeks left before the Aug. 15 deadline, many of the nearly 10,000 once-thriving businesses who could receive disaster-relief loans backed by the Small Business Administration have not applied. SBA LOANS NOT HOT: About 90% of the damage from the Los Angeles riots hurt small businesses. Many don't want to secure loans because they don't want to take on more debt. Some business owners, turned down by the Small Business Administration in the past, are afraid they'll be rejected again. Of 16,900 loan applications distributed at 10 disaster activity centers, only 3,894 have been returned. DEALERS FILE SUIT AGAINST EXXON: Exxon gasoline dealers, upset that the company has decided to leave the cutthroat southern California retail market, filed a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit Friday, hoping to stop the move. Exxon's domestic oil and gas division announced May 12 that it would stop selling gasoline to 156 stations in southern California. DEALERS SAY THEY WERE TRICKED: In a lawsuit filed against Exxon by gasoline dealers in southern California, dealers claim they were tricked into investing an average $350,000 in their stations before Exxon announced it was pulling out of the market. Exxon called the lawsuit groundless. Chevron, which plans to purchase 23 of the southern California Exxon stations for $20 million, is named as a co-defendant. ADA RULES TAKE EFFECT: As many as 14 million workers and 1 million mid-sized businesses are affected by sweeping rules that went into effect Sunday under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Businesses must remove physical barriers and stop asking questions about disabilities on job applications. Large firms had to comply last January; small businesses have until Jan. 26, 1993. EL PASO ELECTRIC ACQUITTED: El Paso Electric Co., two of its former officers and a number of other businessmen were acquitted Friday on charges they cheated investors out of about $12 million through an insurance fraud scheme. The defendants were accused of conspiring to commit theft of more than $20,000 through an annuities scam. El Paso Electric filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 8. NEVADA RATE INCREASE OK'D: Nevada Power Co. Friday was granted a $23.1 million increase in general rates by the Public Service Commission of Nevada, effective Monday. The new rates allow the company to recover its investment in new facilities and financing costs, the company says. The commission also approved recovery of $1.9 million in costs associated with the company's resource plan. PRIME CLOSES A DIVISION: In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Prime Computer said it will close its computer-hardware division instead of selling it to executives. Prime says it plans to focus on its services and software business and discontinue its computer-making division. The move will mean laying off the division's 400 employees. USA, CANADA IN BEER WAR: The USA added about $3 a case Friday to the 77-cent duty on Canadian beer imported from the province of Ontario. Labatt and Molson are Ontario's major beer producers. Canada responded hours later by placing its own tax on imports of some U.S. beers to Ontario. U.S. makers G. Heileman and Stroh have led the fight against what they call discrimination by Canada against U.S. beers. COMMITTEE CUTS CLEANUP FUNDS: The House Appropriations Committee slashed funding for environmental cleanup along the U.S.-Mexico border last week, and advocates said that was proof of continued neglect of the region, soon to be the staging area for a North American Free Trade Treaty. The committee voted against providing the additional $50 million for waste water and sewage hookups to the hamlets along the border. COUNTRIES WORKING ON TRADE: Trade ministers from the United States, Mexico and Canada said Sunday they've made substantive progress in agreeing on an historical pact that would make North America the largest trading bloc in the world, Bloomberg Business News reports. The countries met in Mexico City to try to break down trade barriers and put a final seal on the North American Free Trade Agreement. CYRIX GETS OPPOSITE RULING: Federal Court Judge Paul Brown of Texas ruled Friday that Cyrix is immune from patent infringement claims because its foundry, SGS Thomson, is licensed by Intel. The ruling is in direct contrast to the favorable decision Intel received on the same issue in 1991 in Oregon district court. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Court must now resolve the opposite conclusions of the courts. ORION FILES FOR DISCLOSURE: Orion Pictures Corporation Friday announced that it has filed a disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The disclosure statement filed by Orion describes each class of creditor and equity holder as well as the cash and:or securities to be received by each once the place of reorganization, which was filed with the Court on July 13, is consummated. Business Law Editor: Kate Coughlin. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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