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 Wed, Jun 10 1992 Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 05:20:05 EDT Message-ID: 06-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update June 10, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CONTINENTAL SUES AMERICAN: American Airlines cut fares recently to kill its competitors, Continental Airlines charged Tuesday in a lawsuit. Continental, which is in bankruptcy reorganization along with TWA and America West, charged in the suit that American broke antitrust laws by engaging in predatory pricing - setting fares that can't be profitable. Experts say predatory pricing is hard to prove. AMERICAN DENIES CHARGES: American Airlines denied charges of predatory pricing included in a suit filed Tuesday by Continental Airlines. The suit alleges American recently offered low fares to force competitors out of business. American Chairman Robert Crandall says there's no hidden agenda: "Our goal is very simple. We want to get a price structure in place that will allow us to earn a profit." FORMER EASTERN PILOTS SUE: A group of former Eastern Airlines pilots who were on strike in 1989 have filed a lawsuit against their national union and some union officials, it was announced Tuesday. The pilots claim the Air Line Pilots Association and some union officials did not make a good-faith effort to obtain jobs for them at other airlines after they ended their strike. DEMERY INDICTED: A federal grand jury investigating influence peddling at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Tuesday indicted former assistant housing secretary Thomas Demery on conflict-of-interest charges. He's accused of conspiring to inflate the price of a business he sold to Phillip McCafferty, also indicted, and funneling subsidies to a firm employing McCafferty. TEEN-AGERS TO BE DECOYS: Teen-agers will be used as decoys in a Macomb County, Mich., sting operation to halt the sale of sexually explicit music to minors. Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said the investigation stems from parental complaints about sexually explicit lyrics on recordings by the Geto Boys rap group, whose records are sold nationwide. LIBEL RULING ALLOWED TO STAND: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a libel case against The Boston Globe, letting stand a lower court ruling that provides protection for opinion columns. The court refused to review Phantom Touring Co. vs. Affiliated Publications, Globe Newspaper Co., et. alia. Phantom had alleged it was defamed in a series of 1989 articles by Globe theater critic Kevin Kelly. CLASS ACTION SETTLED: Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Savings Bank, FSB Tuesday announced that it has reached a $1.5 million settlement of the class action lawsuit filed against the bank and three former officers of the bank in March 1990. The settlement provides for dismissal with prejudice of all claims against the bank and each of the former officers. ACTION TAKEN OVER DRUG MARKETING: Behringwerke, A.G. of Germany and its U.S. affiliate, Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals Inc., said Tuesday that they had commenced an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against Immunex Corp. The action seeks, among other things, to bar Immunex from terminating or otherwise breaching contractual relationships under which Hoechst markets GM-CSF in the USA. AD MATERIAL WOULD BE ILLEGAL: Unsolicited delivery to private homes of shopping circulars, newspapers, magazines and other commercial advertising material would be illegal under a bill proposed by two New York lawmakers. The measure, requested by the U.S. Postal workers union, has drawn swift opposition from newspaper executives and a statewide publishing group, which argue it would violate free-speech rights. MARKAIR FILES FOR PROTECTION: MarkAir Inc., which last year said it would compete head-to-head with Alaska Airlines, Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It will maintain its schedule and pay its 1,200 employees until granted protection, officials said. Debt: $190 million to 60,000 creditors - including $3 million to the IRS. CONE MILLS CONTRACT RATIFIED: Union workers in Greensboro, N.C., Tuesday ratified a two-year contract with Cone Mills. The union complained workers weren't getting a fair cut of the benefits of the company's planned move to go public next week. The settlement includes protection for the workers' accounts in the stock ownership plan. SUIT FILED OVER BLUEPRINTS: In Columbus, Ohio, a $4.5 million lawsuit has been filed against Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority and others by Carter Steel and Fabricating of Bellefontaine, it was announced Tuesday. Carter claims blueprints for a new convention center are so flawed that the steel company and its subcontractors must spend $4.5 million more than called for in the $14.8 million contract. JUDGE TO DECIDE ON APPLE SUIT: A federal judge in Spokane, Wash., will decide whether a suit by state red-apple growers against CBS Inc. will go to trial. Growers claim a 1989 segment of "60 Minutes" damaged their market because it said Alar - used on apples - can cause cancer. 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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