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 Tue, Feb 18 1992 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 92 06:36:31 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Feb. 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DEAL REACHED IN MILKEN SUITS: The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that a tentative $1.3 billion settlement has been reached by the principals in hundreds of lawsuits filed against junk-bond financier Michael Milken. He is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence handed down in 1990 after he pleaded guilty to securities violations. The settlement would have to be approved by U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack. MILKEN WOULD PAY $500M: According to unidentified sources in a Los Angeles Times story, jailed financier Michael Milken would pay $500 million and $400 million would come from a restitution fund administered by the SEC as part of a tentative $1.3 billion settlement of suits against him. Among suits that would be settled would be those brought by Drexel Burnham Lambert, the FDIC, and numerous firms and investors. MERGER BLOCKED OVER LENDING ACT: The Community Reinvestment Act, which was passed 15 years ago, is coming into play as a way of ending the practice of denying credit in low-income areas - redlining. And it is also becoming a deciding factor in approvals of bank mergers. Last fall, the Federal Reserve for the first time blocked a merger solely because one of the banks involved was judged to have violated the act. (For more, see special CRA package below.) UAW CONTINUES STRIKE: Caterpillar Inc. ended a three-month lockout of workers at two Illinois plants Monday, but the workers did not return. United Auto Workers members said they would not return until they have a contract. UAW members went on strike at Caterpillar plants in Decatur and East Peoria Nov. 4. The company then locked out 5,600 workers at three plants, and has laid off 1,400 elsewhere. POSNER SUSPENDED: Financier Victor Posner has been suspended from controlling his holdings, which include DWG Corp., Arby's and Royal Crown Cola, while auditors investigate his role in DWG. Posner has been accused of taking over companies only to drain cash from them. Posner's son Steven, DWG's vice-chairman, was also suspended, and a federal judge has order their salaries to be placed in a trust. MINISCRIBE SETTLEMENT REACHED: Coopers & Lybrand Monday reached a settlement with plaintiffs in the MiniScribe case just after Texas District Court Judge Roy Engelke set aside a jury verdict and ordered a new trial. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Two weeks ago, a jury awarded plaintiff Kemper Management and its clients $568 million in the case over losses from the failure of computer firm MiniScribe. AIRLINE GROUNDED: Commuter airline L'Express, which filed for bankruptcy court protection in 1991, has canceled all flights to Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. The move came after Beech Aircraft Corp. seized all planes it had been leasing to the financially strapped airline which had fallen behind in payments, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported Monday. IMPLANT DEBATE CONTINUES: The debate over the safety of silicone gel breast implants, which is the subject of many lawsuits against their makers, will continue Tuesday when an FDA advisory panel takes up the issue of whether they should be allowed to return to the market. The panel, after the three-day hearing, will decide if new evidence on risks justifies keeping the implants off the market. UTILITY RATES IN QUESTION: The Washington, D.C., Public Service Commission should determine if PEPCO and District of Columbia Natural Gas are overcharging residents, an official with the D.C. People's Counsel said Monday. Cited: Utilities appear to be levying more gross receipts taxes than permitted. A PSC lawyer said a probe has begun. PEPCO denies charges. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CRA: CRA FIGURES IN RULING: Community lending records have become a factor - as much as financial stability - in the approval of bank mergers. The significance of following the Community Reinvestment Act, which is designed to outlaw discrimination by banks in lending to low-income areas, came out last fall when the Federal Reserve blocked a bank merger on CRA grounds. MERGER BLOCKED BY FED: The first bank merger to be blocked on CRA grounds was a proposed deal between First Interstate BancSystem of Montana and Commerce BancShares of Wyoming. Cheyenne group Native Action fought the merger. The group charged that First Interstate did not meet lending requirements under the CRA because of a poor record on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation by its Colstrip, Montana, branch. FED AGREES BUT BANK DOESN'T: The Federal Reserve agreed with Cheyenne group Native Action, and blocked the merger of First Interstate BancSystem and Commerce BancShares because of First Interstate's CRA lending record. But the bank says given the poor economic environment - with 50% unemployment - it has done a good job of lending to the reservation. It is appealing the Fed decision in court. (End of package.) Business Law Editor: Jason P. Smith. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002180000D0218 ENER-R E Prices-fall-on-OPEC-agreement......... A D0218 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