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, May 15 1992 Date: Fri, 15 May 92 05:12:19 EDT Message-ID: 05-15 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update May 15-17, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network `GOD SQUAD' GRANTS EXEMPTION: The Cabinet-level "God squad" committee Thursday granted an exemption to the Endangered Species Act, voting to permit timber harvesting on 1,742 acres of Oregon forests. Use of the land is in question because it is considered ideal habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl. It was only the second time the panel has ruled that economic concerns outweigh those of animal protection. (For more, see special Owl package below.) LIABILITY MEASURE TABLED: A product liability measure was tabled in the Senate Thursday on a vote of 53-45. It was offered as an amendment to the so-called "motor voter" by Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., and Sen. Robert Kasten, R-Wis. The measure would have limiting manufacturers' liability in personal injury lawsuits. Some senators charged the amendment was just a way to kill the voter bill. SENATORS OFFER TO PULL MEASURE: Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., and Sen. Robert Kasten, R-Wis., offered to withdraw their product liability amendment from the "motor voter" bill Thursday. They said they would withdraw it if Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, would simply guarantee them an opportunity to debate the product liability issue later this year. Their wish was not granted. AUTOMAKERS SUPPORT BILL: On the eve of meetings with Japanese automakers, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all said Thursday that they favor at least parts of a House bill to cap Japan's U.S. sales at 1992 levels. That's expected to be 3.4 million cars and trucks, about 26% of the U.S. market. Japanese automakers suspect the bill, sponsored by Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., will be revised to cut their U.S. sales. GOVERNMENT SETTLES SUIT: The Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service settled a lawsuit this week that charged there were errors in the government's recording-keeping system affecting at least nine million workers from 1978 through 1984. Social Security spokesman Phil Gambino said most of the problem already has been corrected. O&Y MAY FILE FOR PROTECTION: Global real-estate firm Olympia & York Developments is expected to file for bankruptcy court protection in Canada and perhaps Friday in the USA, according to wire service reports. O&Y is the largest landlord in Manhattan and Toronto and developer of the massive Canary Wharf project in London. Financial markets could be roiled by such a filing. SEC TO UNVEIL CHANGES: The Securities and Exchange Commission next week will unveil dozens of proposed changes to the Investment Company Act of 1940, which governs the way mutual funds are managed and sold. Among the changes are a provision that would let investors negotiate sales charges, or loads. The SEC is expected to release the proposed changes Wednesday. MOTORISTS LOOK FOR INSURANCE: Motorists across Arizona are scrambling to find new auto-insurance coverage because their policies with an insolvent Louisiana firm will be canceled Saturday. A judge declared North American Indemnity insolvent in April. DELAWARE PREFERRED: Many bankruptcy lawyers prefer to file their companies' cases in Delaware because of Judge Helen S. Balick. TWA General Counsel Mark Buckstein says, "Judge Balick is very efficient in the way she conducts her courthouse. It's a very smooth-running machine." In addition to Balick, Delaware is preferred by many companies because it is close to major cities, but is out of the media spotlight. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON OWL: SALES CAN PROCEED: By a 5-2 margin, members of the "God squad" voted Thursday to let the Bureau of Land Management proceed with 13 timber sales in Oregon. The "God Squad" - so dubbed because of its authority to overrule the law and perhaps doom a species to extinction - rejected another 31 planned timber sales. Environmentalists want the land protected for the northern spotted owl. UNHAPPINESS OVER RULING: Neither side in the battle between environmentalists and timber interests were satisfied with the committee's ruling. A spokesman for the timber industry said the God Squad didn't go far enough. Environmentalists vowed to fight the vote in court. Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan said the decision to allow the 13 sales will save about 1,000 jobs. COURT CASES STILL PENDING: The decision of the God squad will not allow timber sales until two court cases are settled. Two separate court rulings enjoin the BLM from selling any timber in Oregon, on grounds that the agency's timber program failed to meet the approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and that it violated standards set forth by the National Environmental Policy Act. LUJAN UNVEILS PLANS: Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan unveiled two plans to save the northern spotted owl just after the committee ruled. The first is a recovery plan that meets the mandates of the Endangered Species Act but costs the Pacific Northwest an estimated 32,100 jobs; and another, far less restrictive plan that does not guarantee the owl's survival but would cost the region only 14,990 jobs. (End of package.) 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