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, May 18 1992 Date: Mon, 18 May 92 05:21:50 EDT Message-ID: 05-18 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update May 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MINIVAN RULING TUESDAY: As auto-trade talks begin this week between U.S. and Japanese automakers outside Chicago, a key ruling on mivivan-dumping charges is imminent. The Department of Commerce will announce Tuesday whether it agrees with a preliminary ruling that Japanese makers are selling minivans in the USA for less than in Japan. If it agrees, the International Trade Commission will then rule. OLYMPIA & YORK FILES: The bankruptcy reorganization of Olympia and York in the USA and Canada will not likely affect its U.S. holdings right away, experts say. The world's largest real-estate developer was not able to restructure about $18 billion in debt, and was forced to file for bankruptcy court protection in Canada and the USA late Thursday. O&Y has a sizable empire of properties in the USA. (For more, see special O&Y package below.) GTE SOUTHWEST CONTINUES TALKS: GTE Southwest Inc. and the Communications Workers of America Local 6171 announced Friday night they have agreed to extend their current contract while negotiations continue. The contract expired Friday. Talks will resume at 10 a.m. Monday in Irving, Texas. The current agreement covers 5,500 hourly employees in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. LABELING RULES MAY BE DELAYED: The Bush Administration may delay the implementation of new rules on food labeling scheduled to take effect May 1993, according to published reports. Critics say the action would be another election-year attempt by the White House to cut the regulatory burden on big business. ALEXANDER'S CLOSES, FILES: New York department store chain Alexander's closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy court protection Friday. The 64-year-old chain said it will try to reorganize as a real-estate operating company. Alexander's lost $40 million the past two years and said it had no hope of making a profit. The chain has 11 department stores in New York and surrounding suburbs. S&L COST COULD BE LOWER: Albert Casey, head of the Resolution Trust Corp., set up to oversee the S&L cleanup, says he believes the bailout will cost no more than $130 billion, the New York Times reported Sunday. Estimates on the cost of the cleanup started at $50 billion in 1989 and rose to $160 billion in June 1991. Casey cited lower interest rates as the reason for the lower estimate. OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS NEW LAW: County officials from across Kentucky will meet in Frankfort this week to discuss how the state's new landfill law is supposed to work. The state's new standards for landfill construction are effective July 1. They will require many landfills to close and cause many new ones to be built. PANEL TO HEAR HALCION DEBATE: Federal specialists on an advisory committee will hear debate Monday on the safety of Upjohn Co.'s top-selling sleeping pill Halcion. The hearing will be similar to those that led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to strictly limit silicone breast implants. Scientific critics have linked Halcion to such reactions as brain impairment, suicide and violence. CONTRACT APPROVED: The Air Line Pilots Association has approved a new four-year contract with USAir. Full details of the agreement, which was ratified Friday by the USAir ALPA Master Executive Committee, will not be made public until they are given to the union membership. Included are salary reductions, cost savings in health care and improvements in pilot productivity, according to USAir. BUSH OVERRULES REILLY: Environmentalists say a decision by President Bush weakens the Clean Air Act of 1990. Bush overruled his EPA chief last week in granting industry a concession on emissions. Bush's ruling eases the approval process for plants when operational changes increase emissions of pollutants beyond what their permit allows. It was opposed by Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON O&Y: MANY U.S. HOLDINGS EXEMPT: Many U.S. holdings of Olympia & York were not covered by the firm's bankruptcy filing. The filing covers the parent firm, Olympia & York Developments, and its holdings in several Canadian and U.S. corporations. But O&Y's properties in New York - where it is the city's largest landlord - and other U.S. cities that are owned by separate subsidiaries were not covered by the filing. NO AGREEMENT REACHED: O&Y's bankruptcy filing came after months of negotiations with bankers failed to produce an agreement on restructuring debt. Those negotiations included an offer by the firm to the banks of a 20% equity stake in exchange for concessions on more than $12 billion in bank debt and additional loans to meet the company's immediate cash needs. The banks turned down the offer. FUTURE UNCERTAIN: Experts disagree on what the future holds for O&Y. Some analysts say its debts outweigh its assets, making the firm a candidate for liquidation. But most experts say O&Y is too big to fail. "There's no way the banks can liquidate Olympia & York's assets," says Ivan Faggen, director of real-estate services for Arthur Andersen. "Who would buy them?" 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. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM