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, Aug 17 1992 Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 04:19:44 EDT Message-ID: 08-17 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Aug. 17, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DAILY NEWS PLAN DUE MONDAY: A New York Daily News reorganization plan must be presented to a bankruptcy court Monday. Over the weekend, unions and creditors for the troubled newspaper studied details of bids by Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner of U.S. News & World Report, and Canadian publisher Conrad Black. STRIKE BREAKER LAW UPHELD: A federal judge Friday turned down a request to declare unconstitutional Pennsylvania's law against hiring professional strike breakers. Pittsburgh Press Co., which has been unable to publish The Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since May 17 because of a drivers strike, had asked that the law be overturned. TWA PLAN AGREEMENT REACHED: An agreement has been reached with Trans World Airlines Inc.'s flight attendants. Employees in the airline will get an ownership stake in return for wage and benefit cuts, the union has said. TWA's Machinist union members have also agreed to the plan. The other major union, for pilots, has been a holdout as it seeks assurances on job security and pension protection. DELTA UNION REFUSES TO CONCEDE: Delta Air Lines Inc.'s pilots union refused a company request for concessions until it can review Delta's finances, according to a union spokesman. John Culp said the review would take months. Delta has asked its pilots for concessions that include delaying a 5% wage increase due to take effect Sept. 1. Delta last month reported a $180.2 million loss for the second quarter. COORS SUIT ARGUMENTS HEARD: Arguments were heard Friday in New York on the lawsuit filed last week by Coors Brewing Company against Anheuser-Busch. District Judge Michael B. Mukasey said he will issue a ruling Wednesday. Coors says that Anheuser-Busch's recent Natural Light ad campaign disparages Coors products with false and misleading claims. A restraining order against airing the ads still is in place. RESTRAINING ORDER STILL IN PLACE: A restraining order prohibiting Anheuser-Busch from airing commercials that Coors Brewing Company says disparages its products remained in place Friday as arguments were heard in the lawsuit Coors has brought. Coors claims the ad campaign questions the same basic brewing process used on Anheuser-Busch's own products. Also named in the suit: A-B ad agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. COURT SUPPORTS ELJER CLAIMS: A federal appeals court Friday supported multimillion-dollar claims by troubled Eljer Industries Inc. against its insurance company. Bloomberg Business News reported that the decision could lift the threat of impending bankruptcy from Eljer. A federal court last year ruled that Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. was not responsible for product liability claims against the company. LIBERTY MUST PAY CLAIMS: A ruling Friday supporting Eljer Industries Inc. means that Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is responsible for claims previously covered by Eljer. It also means that Eljer now may demand that Liberty Mutual pay some $15 million in unpaid claims. Eljer's problems began in the 1980s when subsidiary U.S. Brass Corp. sold faulty plumbing systems to homebuilders. BROOKTREE SETTLES PATENT SUIT: Brooktree Corp. said Friday that it has settled a patent lawsuit filed by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The suit was over a Brooktree patent on the process used to make integrated circuits. A Brooktree spokeswoman said a confidentiality agreement signed by both companies means that terms of the settlement cannot be disclosed. She said AMD "agreed to drop the lawsuit." FDA MOTION ON BARR TO BE HEARD: The Food and Drug Administration's motion for a preliminary injunction against Barr Laboratories Inc. will begin being heard on Monday. The FDA wants to shut down Barr Laboratories' operations, saying the company used contaminated water to process antibiotics, distributed mislabeled and defective drugs and mixed foreign substances into its drugs. AQUIFER RULING TO BE APPEALED: Union Texas Petroleum Holdings Inc. said Friday that it plans to appeal a ruling that it and Mobil Oil must pay for a study of environmental damage at the Rush Springs Aquifer near Cyril, Okla. An interim order was issued Wednesday required a study to determine the extent and level of contamination and whether remediation of the aquifer is possible. The companies must split the cost. FED TO CHECK ON CITICORP MORE: Citicorp said Friday it has agreed to let federal regulators increase their oversight of its actions as it works to raise capital by selling stock and assets. The nation's largest bank also is struggling with $9.3 billion in troubled loans. Citicorp said it signed an informal memo of understanding with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Comptroller of the Currency. NEC CAN EXPORT TO VIETNAM: NEC Corp. soon will be able to export optical telecommunications systems to Vietnam. Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper said Sunday that its Ministry of International Trade and Industry will allow NEC to export the systems whose sales to communist nations are restricted under international trade rules. The systems will link the country's telephone networks. Business Law Editor: Beth Mann. (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. 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