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 Tue, Apr 28 1992 Date: Tue, 28 Apr 92 05:41:28 EDT Message-ID: 04-28 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update April 28, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SAFETY LAWS NOT BEING ENFORCED: The USA's workplace safety laws have not been enforced, hindering proper and regular worksite inspections, according to an AFL-CIO study out Monday. The study says it may take 100 years to find out whether all workplaces meet health standards. "Federal OSHA conducts surprise inspections of `high hazard' workplaces only once every 25 years," says study author Lynn Rhinehart. PAN AM BLAMED IN TRIAL: In opening arguments Monday at a trial on a suit over the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, a lawyer for the relatives of 212 victims blamed "corporate greed" for "abominable" security that allowed the bomb to go undetected. "Pan Am's security system was a fraud," Lee Kreindler told the 12-member jury. Testimony in the suit over the Lockerbie, Scotland, bombing may start Tuesday. PAN AM BLAMES GOVERNMENT: Pan Am's lawyer, Clinton Coddington, in opening arguments Monday of trial on a suit against the airline over the Flight 103 bombing, shifted blame onto the government. He said it was nearly impossible for an airline to stop a "carefully planned ... highly-sophisticated act of war waged against the entire United States." The bomb - hidden in a cassette player - killed 259 people. UPI ASKS FOR QUICKER AUCTION: United Press International told a federal bankruptcy court Monday that it will have to halt operations next month and asked if it could move up an auction date to sell the 84-year-old news wire service. UPI requested that the auction be held May 12, instead of May 15 when it says it will no longer be able to meet its payroll and will cease operations. CHURCH SUES TIME FOR LIBEL: The Church of Scientology filed a $416 million libel suit Monday against Time magazine and Time-Warner. It asks for $100 in damages for each of the 4.16 million copies of Time's May 6, 1991 issue, which contained an article sharply critical of Scientology. The article was "fraught with falsehoods," said the Scientologists, who called Time a "ruthless global propaganda factory." EARNINGS HURT BY SETTLEMENT: A.P. Green Industries Inc. Monday announced that financial results for the first quarter of 1992 include costs related to a recent settlement of litigation arising out of the sale by the company of its former subsidiary, the E.J. Bartells Co. An A.P. Green spokesman said costs from the settlement reduced net earnings for the quarter by approximately $1.6 million, or $.60 per share. MUCH SPENT ON LAWSUITS: The Coalition to Eliminate Abusive Securities Suits said Monday that the nation's six largest public accounting firms spent 9% of their more than $5 billion in combined auditing and accounting revenues last year to settle or fight lawsuits. The coalition aims to reduce the amount spent on such suits through the enactment of a package of securities fraud litigation reforms. DOW CORNING HURT BY LEGAL COSTS: Dow Corning Corp. said Monday that first-quarter profits dropped 16% due to legal costs associated with leaving the silicone gel breast implant business. Earnings totaled $36.3 million, down from $43 million a year ago. Revenue rose 7% to $484 million from $452 million. The company took a $24 million pretax charge to pay for costs related to its implant business. SETTLEMENT APPROVAL EXPECTED: In Seabrook, N.H., a settlement under which town officials will pay Seabrook Station $17 million to settle a 10-year tax-abatement dispute is expected to be approved by the court by the end of the week. The town has agreed to limit capital improvement spending for five years so money will be available to pay Seabrook Station. RETAILERS REQUIRE MINIMUMS: In New York City, 185 of 250 retailers surveyed set minimums for credit-card purchases, the consumer affairs commissioner says. Cited: Customers should notify their credit-card firm of the tactic - which violates rules - forcing bigger purchases. UNION TO START CAMPAIGN: The National woodworkers' union will begin a flier campaign May 20 against Golden Corral restaurants across the country. Cited: Union wants the General Wood Preserving Co., owned by the steakhouse chain's parent company, to sign a union pact with its workers. Fliers will tell consumers that the company has an unfair bargaining stance, a union official says. SUIT FILED OVER `TARZAN' SPREAD: A "Tarzan, Meet Jane" fashion spread in Vogue has incurred the wrath of heirs of "Tarzan" author Edgar Rice Burroughs. They filed a $1 million trademark infringement suit last week against the magazine. The lawsuit also says Vogue's "sexually charged" pictorial damages Tarzan's image. Vogue said the pictorial was "an appropriate editorial use of public domain characters." MOST FAVOR CALIFORNIA LAW: A survey commissioned by Southern California Edison and released Monday finds support for increased use of electric vehicles. Slightly more than half of the 1,000 registered voters responding to the survey said they favor a new California law that requires sales of up to 40,000 electric vehicles per year in the state by 1998. That number rises to 200,000 per year by 2003. 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