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, Apr 7 1992 Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 05:44:02 EDT Message-ID: 04-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update April 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MOST STRIKERS REMAIN OUT: Caterpillar Inc.'s threat to replace strikers if they did not return to work Monday went unheaded by the vast majority of the 12,600 striking United Auto Workers union members. A few striking workers crossed picket lines formed by more than 200 UAW members outside the Peoria, Ill., Caterpillar factory. Stikers stood across from a plant gate and shouted, "Hell no, we won't go." (For more, see special Caterpillar package below.) COURT RULES FOR NEBRASKA MAN: The Supreme Court Monday ruled in favor of Keith Jacobson, a Nebraska farmer who the court says was lured into buying child pornography through the mail by the federal government. The court ruled the government's 26-month campaign to get Jacobson to purchase magazines amounted to entrapment. Jacobson was targeted after his name came up on an adult bookstore's mailing list. RULING LIMITS STINGS: In ruling for a Nebraska man Monday who was lured into buying pornography by the government, the Supreme Court said that limits should be placed on sting operations. Justice Byron White wrote for the majority: "Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person's mind the disposition to commit a criminal act and then induce commission of the crime." CALIFORNIA MEASURE DEFEATED: A measure to amend California's year-old Corporate Criminal Liability Act was defeated 5-2 by the state Senate Industrial Relations Committee. Provisions would have narrowed the law's scope and rendered corporate executives liable only under proof of gross negligence, reports the National Law Journal. MACY'S OPENING CLOSE-OUT STORES: R.H. Macy, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, says it is opening two Macy's Close-Out stores in outlet malls near Chicago and Philadelphia. The Close-Out stores will sell clearance merchandise from Macy's department stores. Macy opened its first close-out stores in Florida last year and plans to open eight more by the end of this year while undergoing reorganization. CABLE DEFINITION QUESTIONED: A ruling on the definition of cable threatens to put at least one company out of business, Joseph Hipple, president of People's Choice TV Partners, a national wireless cable system, told a Senate Judiciary panel Monday. The ruling said wireless networks were not technically "cable systems," and would no longer be eligible for a license that allows access to a wide array of programming. MOODY'S CONFIDENT OF FINANCING: Moody's Investors Service said Monday that, despite the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission's general obligation revenue bonds, series 9, that the financing will go through. Moody's said it believes issues raised in the lawsuit have been well explored. WOMEN AWARDED $935,000: A state Superior Court jury awarded $935,000 to two female former employees of a real estate management firm in New Jersey. Candy Rendine and Bernadette Lorestani claimed they were fired because they took maternity leave. They were awarded compensatory damages of $210,000 and $225,000 respectively. Edward S. Pantzer, president of Pantzer Management Co., said he would appeal. JURY SELECTION BEGINS: Jury selection began Monday in Phoenix, Ariz., for ex-state Sen. Carolyn Walker, the only one of seven state lawmakers charged in the AzScam sting not to plead guilty to any charges. Walker is accused of taking $25,880 from undercover agent to vote for legalized gambling in the state. She says she was entrapped. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CATERPILLAR: LABOR BATTLE HEATS UP: The battle between striking United Auto Workers union members and Caterpillar Inc. grew Monday when most of them refused to return to work despite a threat by the company to begin hiring replacement workers if they did not. Picketers outside the Peoria, Ill., plant said they were fighting for more than a new contract, that they were fighting for unions in the USA. STRIKE IMPACTS OTHER CONTRACTS: The six-month contract battle between the UAW workers and Caterpillar could have a big impact on future negotiations between the UAW and some of its the USA's biggest employers, such as the Big Three automakers, analysts say. It is probably the biggest test of will between labor and management in America since President Reagan firing striking air traffic controllers in 1981. SIDES DIFFER ON STAKES: At stake for Caterpillar is its ability to compete globally, the heavy-equipment maker says. Caterpillar says it cannot compete with Japanese heavy equipment makers if it must match the wages and benefits the union won last year from John Deere Inc. For the UAW, it is a fight over equalizing wages and benefits within industries. It says it needs such "pattern contracts" for bargaining power. (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. 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