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 Tue, May 12 1992 Date: Tue, 12 May 92 05:10:23 EDT Message-ID: 05-12 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update May 12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network L.A. LENDERS GET LOW GRADES: Twelve lenders in the Los Angeles area faired poorly in the legal test for serving poor and minority residents, a recent study by federal regulators says. The twelve lenders received the lowest rating under the Community Reinvestment Act, a federal law requiring banks and other lenders to prove they don't discriminate against low-income borrowers. (For more, see special Lending package below.) UPI TO BE AUCTIONED: Wire service United Press International, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection in August, will be auctioned Tuesday. Bankruptcy court Judge Francis Conrad will review bids, and can decide to sell it to the highest bidder or piecemeal. When it filed for Chapter 11 in August, UPI listed $22 million in assets and $65 million in liabilities. TIMES PREPARES FOR HEARING: The New York Times is preparing for a court hearing to determine if its drivers union blocked deliveries in violation of a federal judge's order last week. During the weekend, arson, rock-throwing and rammed trucks hurt Times deliveries. Last week, 220 drivers lost their jobs at two wholesale plants in New York after rejecting a contract with the new owner of the plants, Arthur Imperatore. SUIT FILED OVER FIRE: A relative of four people killed in a Boston house fire two years ago filed suit Monday against Philip Morris Cos. Inc. The suit charges that the blaze could have been avoided if the company had made cigarettes that would stop burning unless puffed regularly. LEAF DISMISSES PAISANO: Leaf, Inc. has dismissed Paisano Publications, Inc. as a defendant in a counterfeiting lawsuit it filed April 16, 1992, in Los Angeles Federal Court. Information given to Leaf that identified Paisano Publications, Inc., of Agoura Hills, Calif., as printing counterfeit baseball cards, turned out to be incorrect. WINDMERE RECEIVES PAYMENT: Windmere Corp. announced Monday that it has received a $57,000,000 cash payment from North American Philips Corporation resulting from the settlement of its antitrust lawsuit with North American Philips. Windmere estimates that its net proceeds from this settlement, after the payment of legal fees, taxes, costs and other anticipated expenses, will be $30,000,000-$35,000,000. DELAWARE FIRMS CHALLENGE LAW: Companies in Delaware that tint automobile windows are lobbying state lawmakers to change the tinting law. A measure that was approved in the House and the Senate would allow window tinting that blocks no more than 50% of light until 1996. The current law permits tint that blocks only 30% of light. Police say drivers at 50% tint have difficulty seeing at night. MISREPRESENTATION CHARGED: The Kansas insurance commissioner Monday ordered Physicians Benefit Plan, the National Council of Allied Employees and the Insurance Design Administrators to stop all insurance transactions in the state. He has accused all three firms of misrepresenting a plan as being affiliated with the AFL-CIO, underwritten by Lloyd's of London, and exempt from some state regulations. NEGOTIATIONS RECESSED: Negotiations Monday recessed for a day between Detroit's two daily newspapers, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, and 12 unions representing 3,200 workers. Negotiations are stuck on questions over wages and benefits. Contracts with the two dailies expired Friday. CHALLENGE UPHELD: The Florida hearing examiner Monday upheld a Department of Community Affairs challenge to a proposed 108-acre development in the environmentally sensitive Green Swamp. The Decision is seen as giving the DCA greater authority in protecting wetlands. Gov. Lawton Chiles and the Cabinet will issue a final ruling. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON LENDING: MOST OFFENDERS IN L.A. AREA: The 12 Los Angeles area lenders that rated "substantially noncompliant" by federal regulators in a test of serving poor and minority residents, accounted for nearly 20% of the 64 lenders in the USA who have received the same rating over the past two years, says Kenneth Thomas, a Miami-based banking analyst. Thomas reviewed CRA reports for nearly 6,700 banks and thrifts. FARMERS AND MERCHANTS CITED: Farmers and Merchants Bank, California's 12th-largest bank, was among the 12 L.A. lenders singled out. According to Kenneth Thomas, the bank is one of only two ever disciplined by the Federal Reserve for CRA violations. The bank received the lowest CRA rating in 1990, but in 1991 its grade was raised one notch, to "needs to improve." CALIFORNIA DOES POORLY: Only Los Angeles has such a large concentration of the lowest-ranking lenders. The other 52 institutions are spread across 22 states, Kenneth Thomas says. California lenders overall rank poorly on serving low-income residents, Thomas says. Only 23 hold the highest of the CRA's four ratings, while 59 are in the two lowest. That gives California the worst record out of 50 states, he says. 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. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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