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 Fri, Aug 14 1992 Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 04:30:56 EDT Message-ID: 08-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Aug. 14-16, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CAR AGENCIES WILL CHANGE POLICY: Dollar and Value rental-car companies failed to disclose mandatory car-rental charges, according to a Federal Trade Commission probe. The FTC says the firms advertised rates that didn't include charges such as fuel and airport surcharges and charges for additional drivers. Value and Dollar - while not admitting guilt - have agreed to list the charges. GREAT AMERICAN GETS IRS RULING: Great American Management and Investment Inc. Thursday said a revenue ruling from the Internal Revenue Service could allow it to spin off subsidiary Eagle Industries Inc. in a tax-free transaction. Management is reviewing the ruling amd will make recommendations to the board of directors, who will vote on the matter. VISUAL TO SEEK CHAPTER 11: Visual Industries Inc. Thursday announced that its board of directors has voted to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday. It has received a default notice from one of its lenders. Visual and its subsidiary make furniture and equipment for engineering, drafting and art fields as well as health-care, pharmaceutical and other fields. REORGANIZATION PLAN CONFIRMED: A U.S. bankruptcy judge Thursday confirmed trustee Jay Alix's plan of reorganization for Cardinal Industries Inc., subject to a written order. Cardinal will emerge as a publicly held company within 30 days. Creditors will become shareholders, owning most of the new company shares to be traded in the over-the-counter market. FUND-DISTRIBUTION PLAN STATED: The Securities and Exchange Commission submitted to Manhattan's U.S. District Court Thursday a plan to distribute more than $56 million in funds forfeited in insider-trading investigations. The money was forfeited to the SEC by Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel and Kidder Peabody. A court hearing on the proposed plans is scheduled for Sept. 25. VONS SETTLES GROCERY LAWSUIT: Vons Companies Inc. will sell one of its supermarkets in San Luis Obispo, Calif., under an agreement the Federal Trade Commission approved Thursday, settling government charges that it tried to ease grocery competition. Vons bought three stores from Williams Bros. Markets in January. It later sold one to a drugstore chain at a lower price than another market offered. NRDC WINS TEXACO POLLUTION SUIT: The Natural Resources Defense Council and Delaware Audubon Society won a ruling from a federal court Thursday against Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc. for continuous pollution of the Delaware River. The judge found that TRMI had committed hundreds of violations under the Clean Water Act, and ordered Texaco to pay a $1.68 million penalty and comply with water pollution laws. SUNWARD SETTLES $6.6M FED DEBT: Sunward Technologies Inc. said Thursday that it has settled its $6.6 million debt to the Department of Justice. The money was due Sept. 30. Sunward paid Justice $6 million. Sunward designs, manufactures and markets rigid disk magnetic recording head products for the data storage industry. The settlement will mean $600,000 will be included in Sunward's first-quarter results. PROMOTER GUILTY OF TAX EVASION: San Francisco bay area music promoter Shelly A. Tatum was convicted Thursday by a federal jury on one count of evading $50,939.64 in federal income taxes for 1985. Jurors deliberated four days following a three-week trial for the 31-year-old Tatum. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on a count of tax evasion for the tax year 1984. Tatum will be sentenced Oct. 23. THREE GROUPS SUE EPA OVER RULES: Three major environmental groups this week sued the Environmental Protection Agency over ground rules it proposed for a new method of granting air pollution permits. The groups claimed the rules would give citizens no notice or right to challenge increases in pollution of up to 245 tons a year, which factories could emit because of changes in production levels. TOUGHER EPA RULES CHANGED: Tougher air-pollution rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency were changed by President Bush and his aides, including the Council on Competitiveness headed by Vice President Dan Quayle. The rules fail to abide by the 1990 Clean Air Act, according to the lawsuit filed this week by Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. FOXMEYER STOPS SELLING TO PHAR-MOR: FoxMeyer isn't selling merchandise to Phar-Mor Inc., but is closely watching the company's efforts to recover from alleged internal fraud, a FoxMeyer spokesman told Bloomberg Business News Thursday. Other vendors also are not shipping merchandise to Phar-Mor. A Phar-Mor spokeswoman said this week that some vendors have stopped shipping goods because Phar-Mor doesn't sell some items. TRAFFIC LAW CENTER ANNOUNCED: Transportation Secretary Andrew Card Jr. announced Thursday that the Department of Transportation will work with the National District Attorneys Association to establish a national traffic law center for judges and prosecutors. The center will be funded by a DOT grant. Card said the center will help decide how judgment on drunk driving and other traffic offenses can become more effective. ELK DAMAGE LAND, SUIT SAYS: Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys Thursday filed an appeal against the State of California for Mendocino County rancher Robin Moerman. Moerman claims a 10-year-old Department of Fish and Game program that relocates Tule Elk to the Lake Pillsbury Area in Mendocino County has led to the destruction of Moerman's property. The state denies liability. Business Law Editor: Beth Mann. (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