Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law,americast.usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Fri, Oct 9 1992 Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 04:40:11 EDT Message-ID: 10-09 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Oct. 9-11, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network USAIR BACK TO THE SKIES: USAir expects to return to full strength by Monday pending approval of a new labor pact with 8,300 machinists. A tentative agreement was reached Thursday after a 22-hour negotiating session, ending the four-day-old strike. If the pact is approved, USAir will fly all of its jets and end delays and canceled flights by Monday. USAir is expected to lose $275 million this year. VOTING BEGAN THURSDAY: The International Association of Machinists started voting on a new labor pact with USAir Thursday. Details were sketchy. Union official Brian Murphy says it includes an 8% pay cut the first year, but he says the IAM won its job-security issues. USAir is trying to lure fliers back. Frequent fliers will get credit for 6,000 extra miles if they fly USAir before next Friday. SCHWINN FILES CHAPTER 11: Schwinn Bicycle Co. Thursday announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company said a financial restructuring is necessary because its debt has worsened due to the faltering economy. Schwinn said it would use Chapter 11 to continue reorganization and to stabilize its operations and market strategies as well as restructure debt. REPORT BLASTS VALDEZ CLEANUP: One year after a $1 billion settlement for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, U.S. and Alaska officials have spent about $270 million - but "not one penny" to restore environmental damage, a new report charges. The report by five conservation groups says money went to administration, lawyers fees and unnecessary studies, plus a $50 million "kickback" to Exxon for 1992 cleanup efforts. REPORT IS A `BUM RAP': Alaska Attorney General Charles Cole said Thursday a report blasting state and federal spending efforts to clean up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill is a "bum rap." The $50 million payment to Exxon was part of the agreement because officials said Exxon was best suited to do the final cleanup. Hundreds of competing proposals were put forth by scientists, native villages and others. FLEET SUSPENDS FORECLOSURES: Fleet Financial Group said Thursday it would suspend all home foreclosures for 60 days and unveiled a $38 million program to cut mortgage interest rates and fees in the 23 states where it operates. The Providence, R.I., banking company will contact all customers facing foreclosure to let them know about the moratorium. FLEET DENIES SUIT CONNECTIONS: Fleet Financial Group denied a series of customer-friendly steps had any connection to lawsuits charging it with unfair lending practices. The company said Thursday it will suspend foreclosures for 60 days and cut interest rates and fees. Fleet also will complete unfinished home-improvement work and cut rates and fees on both new and existing mortgage loans. QUANTUM SUES OVER PLANT: Quantum Chemical Corp. Thursday filed suit against the M.W. Kellogg Co. for false claims about furnace technology it designed for a Quantum ethylene plant near Houston. Quantum claims the $500 million plant has not met the production specifications promised by Kellogg and has requested more than $600 million from the engineering and construction firm. MAXWELL GETS ANOTHER REPRIEVE: A federal bankruptcy judge Thursday granted Maxwell Communications Corp. Plc a 60-day extension to file a plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The original deadline expired Tuesday. The extension was the third for Maxwell, under dual administration by courts in the USA and England. A Maxwell lawyer said reorganization is obtainable. CARRIER REACHES LENDING DEAL: HAL Inc., parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Thursday announced an agreement with its principal lender, unions and aircraft lessors. HAL will pay its bank lender $22 million and give it stock worth 13% of HAL's outstanding shares. The bank will forgive $80 million debt and cancel $55 million in preferred stock and a warrant to buy 8% of HAL common stock. HAZARDOUS WASTE ACTIONS NAMED: The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday announced actions for hazardous waste sites. More than 150 defendants will pay $11.3 million for claims over hazardous waste disposal at the former Keefe Chemical Waste Site in Epping, N.H. Justice filed a complaint to recover $1.4 million in cleanup costs at Fisher-Calo Chemicals & Solvents in LaPorte County, Ind. KNOLL A.G. SUES OVER PATENT: Knoll A.G. Thursday filed a complaint in federal district court against Ivax Corp. and two of its units over Knoll's patents for sustained-release verapamil, a blood-pressure drug. Ivax agreed last month to cease distribution and sale of yellow 240-mg verapamil tablets in response to a complaint from Monsanto's G.D. Searle unit. Searle dropped its suit after the color was changed. UNISYS WINS IRS CONTRACT: Unisys Corp. said Thursday its Unisys Government Systems Inc. unit has won a $115 million contract to supply computer systems to tax-return processing centers of the Internal Revenue Service. The company said it will supply information systems and services at 10 regional IRS processing centers and its national computing center in Martinsburg, W.Va., according to Bloomberg Business News. 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. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM