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 Wed, Apr 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 05:41:23 EDT Message-ID: 04-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update April 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STATE FARM TO PAY $157 MILLION: State Farm Insurance Cos. has agreed to pay 814 women in California $157 million to settle sex-discrimination claims, both sides said Tuesday. Average settlement amount: $193,000. No woman will get less than $150,000. The damage recovery is the largest ever under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, said Guy Saperstein, of Oakland, Calif., the women's lead lawyer. (For more, see special Settlement package below.) GRAND JURY INDICTS DEAN: A federal grand jury in Washington Tuesday indicted Deborah Gore Dean, a former executive assistant to former HUD Secretary Samuel Pirece. She was indicted on felony charges of accepting an illegal gratuity and making a false statement to Congress. Her predecessor, Lance Wilson, was indicted four months ago. Dean says the charges were brought in an attempt to compel her to testify against Pierce. UPI AUCTION SET FOR MAY 12: Federal Bankruptcy Judge Francis Conrad Tuesday signed an order putting United Press International up for auction May 12. Sealed bids for the 85-year-old wire service must be submitted by May 11, along with a 15% deposit toward the proposed purchase price, Conrad said. UPI said it will have to cease operations May 15 due to lack of funds, and asked to have the auction before then. STRIKER BILL DEBATE HEATED: The battle over a bill that would ban companies from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers, is heating up. Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, has threatened to hold up debate on striker replacement legislation, which has passed the House. But some of the USA's most powerful unions - including the AFL-CIO and the UAW -are lobbying hard to bring the bill to a floor vote in the Senate. UAW STRIKE HIGHLIGHTS BILL: The UAW's strike against Caterpillar has heightened awareness of pending striker replacement legislation. The strike ended just days after Caterpillar vowed to make good on its threat to fire 12,600 strikers. UAW lobbyist Alan Reuther said the Caterpillar threat helped "dramatize the issue and focus attention in the Senate on the fact that it's a real problem and it's hurting real people." FNN PLAN WINS SUPPORT: Financial News Network Inc. Tuesday announced that its creditors and shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favor of FNN's plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. Creditors holding over 90% of the allowed claims, in each class entitled to vote on the plan, voted to accept the plan. Common shareholders also voted overwhelmingly to accept the plan. OIL OFFICIALS ORDERED JAILED: Mexico's Attorney General Tuesday ordered the jailing of seven government officials, including four from state oil concern Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), for charges relating to last week's explosion in Guadalajara. Pemex officials canceled an emergency check of gas leaks early on the day of the explosion. It originally denied responsibility and accused a cooking-oil company. FINDINGS SUPPORT ORDER: A judge Tuesday found that the American National Agents Group, a Louisiana-based insurer, failed to set aside loss reserves and has inadequate capital and surplus for its volume of business. The decision supports an order by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi to all surplus lines brokers that they stop placing insurance with the group. SHRIMPING RULES PROPOSED: Shrimpers would have to use turtle excluder devices year-round in inland waters as well as offshore from Cape Hatteras N.C. to the Mexican border, under rules proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The rule would replace a requirement that excluders be used in the Gulf of Mexico between March 1 and Nov. 30, and would eliminated the option of limiting net-tow times. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SETTLEMENT: STATE FARM ADMITS WRONGDOING: Bill Sirola, spokesman for State Farm Insurance Cos., commenting on its agreeing to pay $157 million to settle sex-discrimination claims, said Tuesday, "We admit we were wrong," he said. "We didn't do the job that we should have done." State Farm had already agreed to pay $33 million to other California women who won or settled sex-discrimination cases against the insurer. EEOC CRITICIZED: Just as the largest settlement ever in the USA in a sex-discrimination case was announced Tuesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was getting blasted at a Senate subcommittee hearing. The EEOC under Chairman Evan Kemp has done a "dismal job" of enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, women's and civil rights groups charge. EEOC ENFORCEMENT BLASTED: Richard Seymour of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law said at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday on the EEOC, that "Enforcement has plummeted. Victims of discrimination have no place to turn." Civil rights groups say it's unlikely that a class-action suit such as the one settled Tuesday would be brought by the EEOC today. The suit was filed in 1979. (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. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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