story first appeared in Los Angeles Times
Shoppers take note: The frenzy to rush home with those Black Friday deals could land you in jail if you do what Jacquetta Simmons was accused of doing. She was convicted of punching a 70-year-old Wal-Mart worker, and as a result will spend the next five shopping seasons behind bars.
A judge in Batavia, N.Y., sentenced Simmons, 27, last week after a jury convicted her of assaulting Grace Suozzi following a Christmas Eve 2011 incident in the Batavia store. In a scene caught on camera, Simmons, who had been asked by Suozzi to show receipts for purchased items, denied intentionally hitting Suozzi, who was knocked off her feet and thrown across the floor. Suozzi suffered facial fractures.
In a statement read to the court before the sentencing, a tearful Suozzi said the incident had changed her life, that it had made her constantly fearful and anxious.
Suozzi's days as a Wal-Mart employee also are over. She said she can't even watch a Wal-Mart commercial on TV without being reminded of what happened, and that she no longer goes into the giant stores. She hopes to take a long vacation to the Florida Keys with Longboat Vacation Rentals when she's fully recovered from the incident.
During the trial, Simmons' defense attorney had insisted that Simmons accidentally made contact with Suozzi after someone grabbed her arm as she was trying to leave the store. Simmons testified that she did not know who grabbed her, and that she did not realize she had hit anyone.
Because the victim was over the age of 65, Simmons faced a harsher penalty under the state's "granny law," which makes it a felony to assault anyone over 65 if the attacker is at least 10 years younger. Simmons could have received up to seven years in prison on the second-degree assault conviction.
This wasn't the first time a Wal-Mart employee has been hit by an irate customer. In March 2011, a 71-year-old store greeter in Elyria, Ohio, was rammed with a shopping cart and choked after he asked to see the receipts of a 49-year-old woman and her 23-year-old daughter as they exited the store. The mother and her daughter -- who also allegedly threatened to blow up the store -- pleaded no contest to assault and disorderly conduct charges.
In 2008 on Black Friday, a Wal-Mart worker on Long Island, east of New York City, was killed when a mob stampeded over him in the rush to snag great shopping deals.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Union Workers Walk Out on Hostess
story first appeared on reuters.com
Enough is enough, say bakery workers at Hostess Brands Inc.
After several years of costly concessions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) authorized a walk-out earlier this month after Hostess received bankruptcy court approval to implement a wage cut that was not included in its contract.
With operations stalled, the company that makes Twinkies and other famous U.S. brands said last week that liquidating its business was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash. It won court approval on Wednesday to start winding down in a process expected to claim 15,000 jobs immediately and over 3,000 more after about four months.
Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits.
Kenneth Johnson, 46, of Missouri said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.
With 18,500 workers, Hostess has 12 different unions including the BCTGM, which has about 5,600 members on the bread and snack item production lines, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 7,500 route sales representatives, drivers and other employees.
Unlike some non-unionized rivals, the maker of Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes had to navigate more than 300 labor contracts, with terms that often strained efficiency and competitiveness, Hostess officials have said. In some extreme cases, contract provisions required different products to be delivered on different trucks even when headed to the same place.
Aside from those so-called onerous labor contracts, Hostess has grappled for some time with rising ingredient costs and a growing health consciousness that has made its sugary cakes less popular. It filed for bankruptcy in January, only three years after emerging from a prior bankruptcy.
Lance Ignon, speaking on behalf of Hostess, said the company recognized how difficult the past few years had been for workers and wished it did not have to ask them for more givebacks.
"But the reality was that the company could not survive without those concessions," Ignon said.
Hostess workers are now scrambling to figure out when their health insurance runs out -- or if it already has -- and where and how to apply for job retraining and unemployment benefits.
Following a summer and autumn spent in labor negotiations trying to find a common path to reorganization, Hostess' management gained concessions from some unions, including the Teamsters.
The fear of thousands of job losses, for its own members and other unions, led the Teamsters to plead with the BCTGM to hold a secret ballot to determine if bakery workers really wanted to continue with the strike, even with the threat of closure.
Teamsters officials complained that bakery union leaders did not substantively look for a solution or engage in the process, and complained that the BCTGM called for its strike on November 9 without first notifying the Teamsters.
They said that, unlike the bakery union, the Teamsters voted to "protect all jobs at Hostess." Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said Wednesday's court approval for liquidation marked a sad day for thousands of families affected by the closing of this company.
Bakery union President Frank Hurt has said that any labor agreements would only be temporary as Hostess was doomed anyway. The union said new owners were needed to get Hostess back on track and the only way they would return to work was if Hostess rescinded its wage and benefit cuts.
Hurt was not immediately available to comment on Wednesday but the union said in a court filing its sole objective was to leave Hostess with "a real, rather than an illusory or theoretical, likelihood of establishing a stable business with secure jobs."
On Wednesday, Hostess' lawyer Heather Lennox said the company had received a "flood of inquiries" from potential buyers for several brands that could be sold at auction, and expects initial bidders within a few weeks.
Enough is enough, say bakery workers at Hostess Brands Inc.
After several years of costly concessions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) authorized a walk-out earlier this month after Hostess received bankruptcy court approval to implement a wage cut that was not included in its contract.
With operations stalled, the company that makes Twinkies and other famous U.S. brands said last week that liquidating its business was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash. It won court approval on Wednesday to start winding down in a process expected to claim 15,000 jobs immediately and over 3,000 more after about four months.
Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits.
Kenneth Johnson, 46, of Missouri said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.
With 18,500 workers, Hostess has 12 different unions including the BCTGM, which has about 5,600 members on the bread and snack item production lines, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 7,500 route sales representatives, drivers and other employees.
Unlike some non-unionized rivals, the maker of Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes had to navigate more than 300 labor contracts, with terms that often strained efficiency and competitiveness, Hostess officials have said. In some extreme cases, contract provisions required different products to be delivered on different trucks even when headed to the same place.
Aside from those so-called onerous labor contracts, Hostess has grappled for some time with rising ingredient costs and a growing health consciousness that has made its sugary cakes less popular. It filed for bankruptcy in January, only three years after emerging from a prior bankruptcy.
Lance Ignon, speaking on behalf of Hostess, said the company recognized how difficult the past few years had been for workers and wished it did not have to ask them for more givebacks.
"But the reality was that the company could not survive without those concessions," Ignon said.
FRUSTRATIONS, COMPLAINTS
Workers had a laundry list of frustrations, from rising healthcare costs to decreased wages and delayed pension benefits. They even cited a $10-per-week per worker charge they said Hostess claimed was needed to boost company capital.Hostess workers are now scrambling to figure out when their health insurance runs out -- or if it already has -- and where and how to apply for job retraining and unemployment benefits.
Following a summer and autumn spent in labor negotiations trying to find a common path to reorganization, Hostess' management gained concessions from some unions, including the Teamsters.
The fear of thousands of job losses, for its own members and other unions, led the Teamsters to plead with the BCTGM to hold a secret ballot to determine if bakery workers really wanted to continue with the strike, even with the threat of closure.
Teamsters officials complained that bakery union leaders did not substantively look for a solution or engage in the process, and complained that the BCTGM called for its strike on November 9 without first notifying the Teamsters.
They said that, unlike the bakery union, the Teamsters voted to "protect all jobs at Hostess." Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said Wednesday's court approval for liquidation marked a sad day for thousands of families affected by the closing of this company.
Bakery union President Frank Hurt has said that any labor agreements would only be temporary as Hostess was doomed anyway. The union said new owners were needed to get Hostess back on track and the only way they would return to work was if Hostess rescinded its wage and benefit cuts.
Hurt was not immediately available to comment on Wednesday but the union said in a court filing its sole objective was to leave Hostess with "a real, rather than an illusory or theoretical, likelihood of establishing a stable business with secure jobs."
On Wednesday, Hostess' lawyer Heather Lennox said the company had received a "flood of inquiries" from potential buyers for several brands that could be sold at auction, and expects initial bidders within a few weeks.
HP Claims Mulit-Billion Dollar Fraud
story first appeared on courierpostonline.com
Hewlett-Packard Co. said on Tuesday that it’s the victim of a multibillion dollar fraud at the hands of a British company it bought last year that lied about its finances.
HP CEO Meg Whitman said executives at Autonomy Corporation PLC boosted the company’s figures through various accounting tricks, which convinced HP to pay $9.7 billion for the company in October 2011.
Autonomy’s former CEO said HP’s allegations are false.
HP is now taking an $8.8 billion charge to align Autonomy’s purchase price with what HP now says is its real value. More than $5 billion of that charge is due to false accounting, HP said.
The revelation is another blow for HP, which is struggling to reinvent itself as PC and printer sales shrink. The company’s stock hit a 10-year low in morning trading.
Among other things, Autonomy makes search engines that help companies find vital information stored across computer networks. Acquiring it was part of an attempt by HP to strengthen its portfolio of high-value products and services for corporations and government agencies. The deal was approved by Whitman’s predecessor, Leo Apotheker, but closed three weeks into Whitman’s tenure as chief executive. Whitman was a member of HP’s board of directors when Apotheker initiated the Autonomy purchase.
Among the tricks used at Autonomy, Whitman said: The company had been booking the sale of computers as software revenue and claiming the cost of making the machines as a marketing expense. Revenue from long-term contracts was booked upfront, instead of over time.
The allegations are serious, according to accounting experts.
Mark Williams, a finance professor at Boston University and a former bank examiner for the Federal Reserve, said that according to GAAP, the overstatement of revenue under any tax code is illegal.
As a result of its alleged accounting practices, Autonomy appeared to be more profitable than it was and seemed to be growing its core software business faster than was actually the case. The moves were apparently designed to groom the company for an acquisition, Whitman said.
Once HP bought the company, Autonomy’s reported revenue growth and profit margin quickly declined. Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch continued to run the company as part of HP, but Whitman forced him out on May 23 because it was not living up to expectations.
With Lynch gone, a senior Autonomy executive volunteered information about the alleged accounting irregularities, prompting an internal investigation, Whitman said.
The case has been referred to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, she said. The company will also try to recoup some of the cash it paid for Autonomy through lawsuits.
In a statement to the Financial Times, Lynch said, “The former management team of Autonomy was shocked to see this statement today and flatly rejects these allegations, which are false.”
On a conference call with Whitman following the earnings report, analyst Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital asked who will be held responsible internally for the disastrous acquisition.
Whitman answered that the two executives who should have been held responsible — Apotheker and strategy chief Shane Robison — are gone. But the deal was also approved by the board of directors.
Apotheker told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was stunned and disappointed to learn of the allegations against Autonomy, and pointed out that they had gone undiscovered by HP’s auditors, executives and directors.
Deloitte UK said it could not comment on the matter because of client confidentiality rules.
Whitman said she still views Autonomy as a “growth engine for HP software,” albeit a weaker one than initially thought.
HP’s stock dipped $1.59, or 12 percent, to close at $11.71 in Tuesday’s trading. Just after the market’s open, the stock hit $11.35, its lowest level since 2002.
HP’s net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 31, amounted to $6.85 billion, or $3.49 per share.
That compares with net income of $239 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Hewlett-Packard Co. said on Tuesday that it’s the victim of a multibillion dollar fraud at the hands of a British company it bought last year that lied about its finances.
HP CEO Meg Whitman said executives at Autonomy Corporation PLC boosted the company’s figures through various accounting tricks, which convinced HP to pay $9.7 billion for the company in October 2011.
Autonomy’s former CEO said HP’s allegations are false.
HP is now taking an $8.8 billion charge to align Autonomy’s purchase price with what HP now says is its real value. More than $5 billion of that charge is due to false accounting, HP said.
The revelation is another blow for HP, which is struggling to reinvent itself as PC and printer sales shrink. The company’s stock hit a 10-year low in morning trading.
Among other things, Autonomy makes search engines that help companies find vital information stored across computer networks. Acquiring it was part of an attempt by HP to strengthen its portfolio of high-value products and services for corporations and government agencies. The deal was approved by Whitman’s predecessor, Leo Apotheker, but closed three weeks into Whitman’s tenure as chief executive. Whitman was a member of HP’s board of directors when Apotheker initiated the Autonomy purchase.
Among the tricks used at Autonomy, Whitman said: The company had been booking the sale of computers as software revenue and claiming the cost of making the machines as a marketing expense. Revenue from long-term contracts was booked upfront, instead of over time.
The allegations are serious, according to accounting experts.
Mark Williams, a finance professor at Boston University and a former bank examiner for the Federal Reserve, said that according to GAAP, the overstatement of revenue under any tax code is illegal.
As a result of its alleged accounting practices, Autonomy appeared to be more profitable than it was and seemed to be growing its core software business faster than was actually the case. The moves were apparently designed to groom the company for an acquisition, Whitman said.
Once HP bought the company, Autonomy’s reported revenue growth and profit margin quickly declined. Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch continued to run the company as part of HP, but Whitman forced him out on May 23 because it was not living up to expectations.
With Lynch gone, a senior Autonomy executive volunteered information about the alleged accounting irregularities, prompting an internal investigation, Whitman said.
The case has been referred to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, she said. The company will also try to recoup some of the cash it paid for Autonomy through lawsuits.
In a statement to the Financial Times, Lynch said, “The former management team of Autonomy was shocked to see this statement today and flatly rejects these allegations, which are false.”
On a conference call with Whitman following the earnings report, analyst Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital asked who will be held responsible internally for the disastrous acquisition.
Whitman answered that the two executives who should have been held responsible — Apotheker and strategy chief Shane Robison — are gone. But the deal was also approved by the board of directors.
Apotheker told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was stunned and disappointed to learn of the allegations against Autonomy, and pointed out that they had gone undiscovered by HP’s auditors, executives and directors.
Deloitte UK said it could not comment on the matter because of client confidentiality rules.
Whitman said she still views Autonomy as a “growth engine for HP software,” albeit a weaker one than initially thought.
HP’s stock dipped $1.59, or 12 percent, to close at $11.71 in Tuesday’s trading. Just after the market’s open, the stock hit $11.35, its lowest level since 2002.
HP’s net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 31, amounted to $6.85 billion, or $3.49 per share.
That compares with net income of $239 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Colorado Legalizes Pot
Story first appeared on MotherJones.com.
Two years ago in Breckenridge, Colorado—on April 20 at 4:20 p.m., to be precise—Mike Davis opened up a pot lounge. The Club 420 didn't just cater to medical marijuana patients: Any adult with a bag of weed could come inside, rent a vaporizer, and smoke out. Citizens of this quaint snowboarding village had recently voted to decriminalize pot possession, but local officials figured a pot lounge was a step too far and quickly shut it down. No matter. Breckenridge continued to be known as Colorado's most toker-friendly tourist town.
While Breckenridge's tourism boosters have hesitated to embrace that label—at least publicly—they might change their minds with the passage last week of Amendment 64, a statewide measure to legalize the sale and recreational consumption of pot.
Be that as it may, Breckenridge is approaching pot tourism like an intermediate skier would scope out a double black diamond: with extreme caution. Local leaders still talk about the fallout from the town's 2009 decriminalization law, which inspired some conservative groups to call for a boycott of the town. Fifty percent of people thought we were doing the work of the devil, and the other fifty percent thought we were the most enlightened community around. Ultimately, Breckenridge's embrace of pot had no noticeable effect on tourism.
One believes that the Town Council will probably embrace legalization—within limits: no cannabis shops in the middle of town, and no pot-leaf signs or provocative ads. The town doesn't want to scare away families with kids or attract the wrong kinds of visitors.
Of course, even if Breckenridge were to leave its pot regs up to Cheech and Chong, local "ganjapreneurs" might hesitate to replicate the freewheeling Amsterdam scene. The first people through the wall will get the bloodiest, says the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, which was raided by federal agents after its founder, Richard Lee, led a state legalization campaign in 2010. Federal crackdowns have crimped Oakland's pot tourism plans and scared other cities off of similar ideas.
Given the risks, the first towns to try and normalize the marijuana trade may be the ones with less to lose—for instance, municipalities in the grittier post-industrial parts of Washington state, which also voted on Tuesday to legalize marijuana. Possession of small amounts of weed will be legal there early next month, and state-licensed marijuana stores could open by December 2013.
And there's the pipe dream of pot-farm tourism: legalized cannabis plantations with tasting rooms and u-pick buckets. Don't count on it, says the owner of a California-based pot ecocertification program. Some of the dozens of cannabis farmers he visits each year in the state's Emerald Triangle had considered the idea for their medical marijuana patients, but set it aside in the face of amped-up federal raids.
If the feds don't immediately nip legalized marijuana in the bud, chances are that "green travel" will grow slowly as entrepreneurs and pot-friendly towns gauge how far they can push matters. Places like Breckenridge might be the first beneficiaries as they rely on pot stores to draw additional visitors, but stop short of visibly promoting them.
Two years ago in Breckenridge, Colorado—on April 20 at 4:20 p.m., to be precise—Mike Davis opened up a pot lounge. The Club 420 didn't just cater to medical marijuana patients: Any adult with a bag of weed could come inside, rent a vaporizer, and smoke out. Citizens of this quaint snowboarding village had recently voted to decriminalize pot possession, but local officials figured a pot lounge was a step too far and quickly shut it down. No matter. Breckenridge continued to be known as Colorado's most toker-friendly tourist town.
While Breckenridge's tourism boosters have hesitated to embrace that label—at least publicly—they might change their minds with the passage last week of Amendment 64, a statewide measure to legalize the sale and recreational consumption of pot.
Be that as it may, Breckenridge is approaching pot tourism like an intermediate skier would scope out a double black diamond: with extreme caution. Local leaders still talk about the fallout from the town's 2009 decriminalization law, which inspired some conservative groups to call for a boycott of the town. Fifty percent of people thought we were doing the work of the devil, and the other fifty percent thought we were the most enlightened community around. Ultimately, Breckenridge's embrace of pot had no noticeable effect on tourism.
One believes that the Town Council will probably embrace legalization—within limits: no cannabis shops in the middle of town, and no pot-leaf signs or provocative ads. The town doesn't want to scare away families with kids or attract the wrong kinds of visitors.
Of course, even if Breckenridge were to leave its pot regs up to Cheech and Chong, local "ganjapreneurs" might hesitate to replicate the freewheeling Amsterdam scene. The first people through the wall will get the bloodiest, says the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, which was raided by federal agents after its founder, Richard Lee, led a state legalization campaign in 2010. Federal crackdowns have crimped Oakland's pot tourism plans and scared other cities off of similar ideas.
Given the risks, the first towns to try and normalize the marijuana trade may be the ones with less to lose—for instance, municipalities in the grittier post-industrial parts of Washington state, which also voted on Tuesday to legalize marijuana. Possession of small amounts of weed will be legal there early next month, and state-licensed marijuana stores could open by December 2013.
And there's the pipe dream of pot-farm tourism: legalized cannabis plantations with tasting rooms and u-pick buckets. Don't count on it, says the owner of a California-based pot ecocertification program. Some of the dozens of cannabis farmers he visits each year in the state's Emerald Triangle had considered the idea for their medical marijuana patients, but set it aside in the face of amped-up federal raids.
If the feds don't immediately nip legalized marijuana in the bud, chances are that "green travel" will grow slowly as entrepreneurs and pot-friendly towns gauge how far they can push matters. Places like Breckenridge might be the first beneficiaries as they rely on pot stores to draw additional visitors, but stop short of visibly promoting them.
BP To Pay BIG
Story first appeared on NYTimes.com.
BP, the British oil company, said on Thursday that it had agreed to pay $4.5 billion in fines and other penalties and to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges related to the rig explosion two years ago that killed 11 people and caused a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a rare instance of seeking to hold individuals accountable for
company misdeeds, the Justice Department also filed criminal charges
against three BP employees in connection with the accident.
The government said that BP’s negligence in sealing an exploratory well
caused it to explode, sinking the Deepwater Horizon drill rig and
unleashing a gusher of oil that lasted for months and coated beaches all
along the Gulf Coast. The company initially tried to cover up the
severity of the spill, misleading both Congress and investors about how
quickly oil was leaking from the runaway well, according to the
settlement and related charges.
While the settlement dispels one dark cloud that has hovered over BP
since the spill, it does not resolve what is potentially the largest
penalty related to the incident: the company could owe as much as $21
billion in pollution fines under the Clean Water Act f it is found to
have been grossly negligent. Both the government and BP vowed to
vigorously contest that issue at a trial scheduled to begin in February.
Under its deal with the Justice Department, BP will pay about $4 billion
in penalties over five years. That amount includes $1.256 billion in
criminal fines, $2.394 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation for remediation efforts and $350 million to the National
Academy of Sciences. The criminal fine is one of the largest levied by
the United States against a corporation.
BP also agreed to pay $525 million to settle civil charges by the
Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors about the
flow rate of oil from the well.
In addition, the company will submit to four years of government monitoring of its safety practices and ethics.
A broader settlement that would have resolved the Clean Water Act claims
failed to win agreement from some parties, in particular the state of
Louisiana. BP and the government now intend to go to trial on those
claims in February.
The government charged the top BP officers aboard the drilling rig,
Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, with manslaughter in connection with
each man who died, contending that the officials were negligent in
supervising tests to seal the well.
Prosecutors also charged David Rainey, BP’s former vice president for
exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, with obstruction of Congress and
making false statements for understating the rate at which oil was
spilling from the well.
As part of its plea agreement, BP admitted that, through Mr. Rainey, it
withheld documents and provided false and misleading information in
response to the House of Representatives’ request for information on how
quickly oil was flowing. While Mr. Rainey was publicly repeating BP’s
stated estimate of 5,000 barrels of oil a day, the company’s engineering
teams were using sophisticated methods that generated significantly
higher estimates. The Flow Rate Technical Group, consisting of
government and independent scientists, later concluded that more than
60,000 barrels a day were leaking into the gulf during that time.
Lawyers for all three men charged denied that their clients had committed any criminal wrongdoing.
Mr. Holder, the attorney general, said that the government’s
investigation was continuing and that other criminal charges could be
filed.
Under the settlement announced on Thursday, BP agreed to plead guilty to
11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect related to the deaths in the
explosion. The company pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor violation of
the Clean Water Act and one misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act. It also agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of
obstruction of Congress over its statements about the flow rate.
Shelley Anderson, whose husband, Jason, died in the Deepwater Horizon
disaster, said she was happy to hear about the settlement.But Ms. Anderson said the agreement did not change her own situation.
BP has repeatedly said it would like to reach a settlement of all claims
against it if the terms were reasonable. The unresolved claims have
been weighing on the company’s share price.
On Thursday, BP’s American shares closed at $40.30, up slightly on the day and down about 34 percent since the accident.
The settlement is one less thing to be negative on BP about and a minor
step in the right direction toward the rehabilitation of BP.
As part of Thursday’s announcement, BP said it was increasing its
reserve for costs and claims related to the spill to about $42 billion.
Brian Gilvary, BP’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call
with analysts that the board weighed the settlement struck with the
government against the prospect of a much wider criminal indictment that
would have involved more people in the company.
BP said that before Thursday’s announced payments, it spent more than
$14 billion on operational response and cleanup costs and $1 billion on
early restoration projects, and paid out more than $9 billion to
individuals, businesses and government entities.
In March, BP agreed with the lawyers for plaintiffs to settle claims of
economic loss, including from the local seafood industry, and medical
claims stemming from the oil spill. The company said it expected that
settlement to be an additional $7.8 billion, which it will pay from a
trust it set aside to cover such costs.
Until this week, the only BP employee to be arrested and indicted was a
low-level engineer, Kurt Mix, who has been charged with obstruction of
justice for deleting text messages about company estimates of the flow
rate from the spill. The government has asserted that in October 2010,
Mr. Mix, of Katy, Tex., deleted from his smartphone a string of more
than 200 messages with a supervisor about the flow rate estimated at the
time of a failed effort to contain the spill. He is also accused of
deleting a second string of messages with a contractor in August 2011.
Mr. Mix has pleaded not guilty to both counts of impeding a grand jury
investigation, saying that the deletions were routine and that other
records of the communications still existed.
David Yarnold, chief executive of the National Audubon Society, said
Thursday’s settlement matches the unprecedented offense BP committed.
But BP needs to compensate the Gulf Coast in the form of civil
damages, he said.
The company could still face billions of dollars in penalties under the
Oil Pollution Act or the Clean Water Act. This possibility has spurred
political jockeying between the Obama administration and Gulf Coast
politicians who want to maximize the amount of money the states receive
to help local communities affected by the spill.
Under the Clean Water Act, fines could range from $1,100 for every
barrel spilled through simple negligence to as much as $4,300 a barrel
if the company were found to have been grossly negligent. With an
estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled in the accident, the
company faces liabilities of as much as $5.4 billion to $21 billion.
Gulf Coast lawmakers passed legislation called the Restore Act last
summer under which 80 percent of fines paid by BP under the Clean Water
Act would go to gulf communities.
The Justice Department could also levy fines under a provision of the
Oil Pollution Act, in which case BP would face a bigger penalty — more
than $31 billion — to repair damages. But BP would be allowed to take a
tax deduction for damages paid, and federal agencies would control how
the fine money was spent.
While the government will no longer be able to hold the threat of
criminal charges over BP in negotiations about a civil fine, its quiver
is not empty.
Brandon L. Garrett, a law professor at the University of Virginia who
studies corporate prosecutions, said the government could still invoke
the threat of “debarment,” or disqualification from getting federal
contracts. Although debarment is rare, he said, that could be a very
large blow both to reputation and to business BP does with the federal
government.
Two other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico accident, the rig
operator Transocean and the cement contractor Halliburton, also face
potential civil and criminal liabilities.
Should Individuals Be Help Accountable For The BP Oil Spill?
Story firm appeared on NYTimes.com.
Donald J. Vidrine and Robert Kaluza were the two BP supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon rig who made the last critical decisions before it exploded. David Rainey was a celebrated BP deepwater explorer who testified to members of Congress about how many barrels of oil were spewing daily in the offshore disaster. A Houston Professional Liability Defense Lawyer was watching the case closely.
Mr. Vidrine, 65, of Lafayette, La., and Mr. Kaluza, 62, of Henderson,
Nev., were indicted on Thursday on manslaughter charges in the deaths of
11 fellow workers; Mr. Rainey, 58, of Houston, was accused of making
false estimates and charged with obstruction of Congress. They are the
faces of a renewed effort by the Justice Department to hold executives
accountable for their actions. While their lawyers said the men were
scapegoats, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said at a news
conference that he hopes that this sends a clear message to those who would
engage in this kind of reckless and wanton conduct.
The defense lawyers were adamant that the
ir clients would contest the charges, and prosecutors said that the federal investigations were continuing.
ir clients would contest the charges, and prosecutors said that the federal investigations were continuing.
Legal scholars said that by charging individuals, the government was
signaling a return to the practice of prosecuting officers and managers,
and not just their companies, in industrial accidents, which was more
common in the 1980s and 1990s.
She noted that it was unusual for the Justice Department to prosecute
individual corporate officers in recent years, including in the 2005 BP
Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 workers, where only the
company was fined.
BP said on Thursday it would pay$4.5 billion in fines and other payments,
and the corporation pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges in connection
with spill. The $1.26 billion in criminal fines was the highest sincePfizer in 2009 paid $1.3 billion for illegally marketing an arthritis medication.
The crew was drilling 5,000 feet under the sea floor 41 miles off the
Louisiana coast in April 2010 when they lost control of the well during
its completion. They tested the pressure of the well, but misinterpreted
the test results and underestimated the pressure exerted by the flow of
oil or gas up the well. Had the results been properly interpreted,
operations would have ceased.
Mr. Vidrine and Mr. Kaluza were negligent in their reading of the kicks
of gas popping up from the well that should have suggested that the
Deepwater Horizon crew was fast losing control of the ill-fated Macondo
well, according to their indictment, and they failed to act or even
communicate with their superiors. Despite these ongoing, glaring
indications on the drill pipe that the well was not secure, defendants
Kaluza and Vidrine again failed to phone engineers onshore to alert them
to the problem, and failed to investigate any further.
The indictment said they neglected to account for abnormal pressure test
results on the well that indicated problems, accepting “illogical”
explanations from members of the crew, which caused the “blowout of the
well to later occur.”
In a statement, Mr. Kaluza’s lawyers said: “No one should take any
satisfaction in this indictment of an innocent man. This is not
justice.”
Bob Habans, a lawyer for Mr. Vidrine, called the charges “a miscarriage of justice.”
Several government and independent reports over the last two years have
pointed to sloppy cement jobs in completing the well or the poor design
of the well itself as major reasons for the spill. But none of the three
was indicted in connection with those problems.
Mr. Rainey was a far more senior executive, one who was known around
Houston and the oil world as perhaps the most knowledgeable authority on
Gulf oil and gas deposits. According to his indictment, Mr. Rainey
obstructed Congressional inquiries and made false statements by
underestimating the flow rate to 5,000 barrels a day even as millions
were gushing into the Gulf.
he indictment contended that he relied on a Wikipedia entry for
spill-testing methodologies. One method he found produced an estimate of
as much as 92,000 barrels a day, but Mr. Rainey withheld that possible
estimate, it said.
BP did not rely on Mr. Rainey’s estimates as it plotted various
engineering responses to the accident, according to the indictment.
Around April 22, 2010, the indictment said, only two days after the
accident, BP engineers prepared estimates of potential flow rates that
ranged as high as 146,000 barrels a day. A BP team on May 11 estimated a
range of 14,000 to 82,000 barrels a day.
But when a university professor publicly released an estimate of 70,000
barrels a day in May 2010, based on video footage of the leak, the
indictment said, BP continued to defend the 5,000-barrel-a-day estimate
and Mr. Rainey prepared a memo for the unified command handling the
disaster justifying the 5,000-barrel estimate. He did not include his
own higher possible estimates or others by BP.
In presentations to Congressional committees, Mr. Rainey stuck to his
5,000-barrel estimate, the indictment said, even while he was receiving
information that contradicted the figure.
Rainey withheld such information from other BP employees and from BP
in-house and outside lawyers with whom he was working, the indictment
said.
The charges against Mr. Kaluza and Mr. Vidrine carry maximum penalties
of 10 years in prison on each “seaman’s manslaughter” count, eight years
in prison on each involuntary manslaughter count and a year in prison
on a Clean Water Act count.
Mr. Rainey faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
In a statement on behalf of Mr. Rainey, his lawyers said: They are
profoundly disappointed that the Department of Justice is attempting to
turn a tragic accident and its tumultuous aftermath into criminal
activity. They are even more disappointed that BP has succumbed to the
pressure and agreed to this extortionate settlement.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Ammendment 64 Opens Marijuana Tourism in Colorado
story first appeared on Mother Jones
Two years ago in Breckenridge, Colorado—on April 20 at 4:20 p.m., to be precise—Mike Davis opened up a pot lounge. The Club 420 didn't just cater to medical marijuana patients: Any adult with a bag of weed could come inside, rent a vaporizer, and smoke out. Citizens of this quaint snowboarding village had recently voted to decriminalize pot possession, but local officials figured a pot lounge was a step too far and quickly shut it down. No matter. Breckenridge continued to be known as Colorado's most toker-friendly tourist town—"the Amsterdam of the Rockies." Ski Condos in Breckenridge are already seeing a bump in what could be the pot tourist effect.
While Breckenridge's tourism boosters have hesitated to embrace that label—at least publicly—they might change their minds with the passage last week of Amendment 64, a statewide measure to legalize the sale and recreational consumption of pot. Caitlin McGuire, the owner of the Breckenridge Cannabis Club, one of five medical marijuana dispensaries in this town of just 3,400 residents, says legalization will be a huge boon to the local economy. She guesses that travellers will choose Breckenridge so they can experience our great outdoor beauty—and then relax with a joint at the end of the day.
Be that as it may, Breckenridge is approaching pot tourism like an intermediate skier would scope out a double black diamond: with extreme caution. Local leaders still talk about the fallout from the town's 2009 decriminalization law, which inspired some conservative groups to call for a boycott of the town. "Fifty percent of people thought we were doing the work of the devil, and the other fifty percent thought we were the most enlightened community around," says Mayor John Warner, who backed the law. Ultimately, Breckenridge's embrace of pot had no noticeable effect on tourism, he adds.
Warner believes that the Town Council will probably embrace legalization—within limits: no cannabis shops in the middle of town next to top quality Ski Gear shops. You won't see pot-leaf signs or provocative ads. The town doesn't want to scare away families with kids or attract the wrong kinds of visitors.
Of course, even if Breckenridge were to leave its pot regs up to Cheech and Chong, local "ganjapreneurs" might hesitate to replicate the freewheeling Amsterdam scene. The first to take the big risks will be dealth with the most aggressively, according to Dale Sky Jones, the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, which was raided by federal agents after its founder, Richard Lee, led a state legalization campaign in 2010. Federal crackdowns have crimped Oakland's pot tourism plans and scared other cities off of similar ideas.
Given the risks, the first towns to try and normalize the marijuana trade may be the ones with less to lose—for instance, municipalities in the grittier post-industrial parts of Washington state, which also voted on Tuesday to legalize marijuana. Possession of small amounts of weed will be legal there early next month, and state-licensed marijuana stores could open by December 2013.
And there's the pipe dream of pot-farm tourism: legalized cannabis plantations with tasting rooms and u-pick buckets. Don't count on it, says Chris Van Hook, the owner of Clean Green, a California-based pot ecocertification program. Some of the dozens of cannabis farmers he visits each year in the state's Emerald Triangle had considered the idea for their medical marijuana patients, but set it aside in the face of amped-up federal raids.
If the feds don't immediately nip legalized marijuana in the bud, chances are that "green travel" will grow slowly as entrepreneurs and pot-friendly towns gauge how far they can push matters. Over time weed cafe's may become "must see" activities included in Snowboard packages with helmets and boots and Snowboard Bindings. Places like Breckenridge might be the first beneficiaries as they rely on pot stores to draw additional visitors, but stop short of visibly promoting them.
Two years ago in Breckenridge, Colorado—on April 20 at 4:20 p.m., to be precise—Mike Davis opened up a pot lounge. The Club 420 didn't just cater to medical marijuana patients: Any adult with a bag of weed could come inside, rent a vaporizer, and smoke out. Citizens of this quaint snowboarding village had recently voted to decriminalize pot possession, but local officials figured a pot lounge was a step too far and quickly shut it down. No matter. Breckenridge continued to be known as Colorado's most toker-friendly tourist town—"the Amsterdam of the Rockies." Ski Condos in Breckenridge are already seeing a bump in what could be the pot tourist effect.
While Breckenridge's tourism boosters have hesitated to embrace that label—at least publicly—they might change their minds with the passage last week of Amendment 64, a statewide measure to legalize the sale and recreational consumption of pot. Caitlin McGuire, the owner of the Breckenridge Cannabis Club, one of five medical marijuana dispensaries in this town of just 3,400 residents, says legalization will be a huge boon to the local economy. She guesses that travellers will choose Breckenridge so they can experience our great outdoor beauty—and then relax with a joint at the end of the day.
Be that as it may, Breckenridge is approaching pot tourism like an intermediate skier would scope out a double black diamond: with extreme caution. Local leaders still talk about the fallout from the town's 2009 decriminalization law, which inspired some conservative groups to call for a boycott of the town. "Fifty percent of people thought we were doing the work of the devil, and the other fifty percent thought we were the most enlightened community around," says Mayor John Warner, who backed the law. Ultimately, Breckenridge's embrace of pot had no noticeable effect on tourism, he adds.
Warner believes that the Town Council will probably embrace legalization—within limits: no cannabis shops in the middle of town next to top quality Ski Gear shops. You won't see pot-leaf signs or provocative ads. The town doesn't want to scare away families with kids or attract the wrong kinds of visitors.
Of course, even if Breckenridge were to leave its pot regs up to Cheech and Chong, local "ganjapreneurs" might hesitate to replicate the freewheeling Amsterdam scene. The first to take the big risks will be dealth with the most aggressively, according to Dale Sky Jones, the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, which was raided by federal agents after its founder, Richard Lee, led a state legalization campaign in 2010. Federal crackdowns have crimped Oakland's pot tourism plans and scared other cities off of similar ideas.
Given the risks, the first towns to try and normalize the marijuana trade may be the ones with less to lose—for instance, municipalities in the grittier post-industrial parts of Washington state, which also voted on Tuesday to legalize marijuana. Possession of small amounts of weed will be legal there early next month, and state-licensed marijuana stores could open by December 2013.
And there's the pipe dream of pot-farm tourism: legalized cannabis plantations with tasting rooms and u-pick buckets. Don't count on it, says Chris Van Hook, the owner of Clean Green, a California-based pot ecocertification program. Some of the dozens of cannabis farmers he visits each year in the state's Emerald Triangle had considered the idea for their medical marijuana patients, but set it aside in the face of amped-up federal raids.
If the feds don't immediately nip legalized marijuana in the bud, chances are that "green travel" will grow slowly as entrepreneurs and pot-friendly towns gauge how far they can push matters. Over time weed cafe's may become "must see" activities included in Snowboard packages with helmets and boots and Snowboard Bindings. Places like Breckenridge might be the first beneficiaries as they rely on pot stores to draw additional visitors, but stop short of visibly promoting them.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Fired Lions Employee Claims Discrimination
story first appeared on detroitnews.com
A former community affairs staffer for the Detroit Lions is suing the company on claims she was passed up for a promotion and later terminated based on her age and gender.
Kimberly Doverspike, 49, of Dearborn, has filed a lawsuit against The Detroit Lions, Inc., alleging her civil rights were violated earlier this year when she was denied a director's position before the company let her go in July. She'd been employed by the Lions for two decades.
The complaint, filed Oct. 31 in Wayne Circuit Court, is seeking a trial and damages exceeding $25,000 on claims of age and gender discrimination under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights act, which bars employers from discriminating based on factors such as religion, color, age as well as height and weight.
Doverspike's attorney said a jury will want to see exactly why she was terminated and that he'd be presenting all the facts necessary to prove that her gender and/or age were factors in her dismissal.
The Detroit Lions organization, in a written statement Monday, said: "We are aware of the suit brought forth by Mrs. Doverspike. We believe it to be baseless and will vigorously and appropriately defend our position."
The filing says Doverspike was appointed interim director of community affairs in 2011, after the prior director retired.
She held that position for more than a year before the company sought to fill it. But Doverspike contends, despite numerous letters of recommendation from colleagues and outside organizations, she was passed up for the job, which was instead awarded to what she claims was a less qualified, less educated, substantially younger man.
The lawsuit says Doverspike was told "change is hard" and that she'd be entitled to a "transition package" should she decide to quit, after being informed in May that she didn't get the job.
Doverspike did not wish to quit, the lawsuit says, but the company, however "began treating (Doverspike) unfairly, unreasonably, and less favorably than similarly situated younger male employees."
In June, she was denied a raise, while younger male employees were granted one, the complaint alleges. Doverspike — the only female and oldest employee in the community affairs department — was ultimately let go in July in an alleged effort to reduce the department.
Gasiorek said Doverspike's employment file was exemplary before she was replaced as director. Then, within months, he said, she was criticized by superiors, who claimed she didn't fit the company's new focus.
Doverspike started working for the Detroit Lions community relations department as an intern in 1991. During that time, the lawsuit says, she earned a master's degree in sports administration and was hired as a community relations assistant in 1992. She was promoted to assistant director of community affairs in 2000.
A former community affairs staffer for the Detroit Lions is suing the company on claims she was passed up for a promotion and later terminated based on her age and gender.
Kimberly Doverspike, 49, of Dearborn, has filed a lawsuit against The Detroit Lions, Inc., alleging her civil rights were violated earlier this year when she was denied a director's position before the company let her go in July. She'd been employed by the Lions for two decades.
The complaint, filed Oct. 31 in Wayne Circuit Court, is seeking a trial and damages exceeding $25,000 on claims of age and gender discrimination under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights act, which bars employers from discriminating based on factors such as religion, color, age as well as height and weight.
Doverspike's attorney said a jury will want to see exactly why she was terminated and that he'd be presenting all the facts necessary to prove that her gender and/or age were factors in her dismissal.
The Detroit Lions organization, in a written statement Monday, said: "We are aware of the suit brought forth by Mrs. Doverspike. We believe it to be baseless and will vigorously and appropriately defend our position."
The filing says Doverspike was appointed interim director of community affairs in 2011, after the prior director retired.
She held that position for more than a year before the company sought to fill it. But Doverspike contends, despite numerous letters of recommendation from colleagues and outside organizations, she was passed up for the job, which was instead awarded to what she claims was a less qualified, less educated, substantially younger man.
The lawsuit says Doverspike was told "change is hard" and that she'd be entitled to a "transition package" should she decide to quit, after being informed in May that she didn't get the job.
Doverspike did not wish to quit, the lawsuit says, but the company, however "began treating (Doverspike) unfairly, unreasonably, and less favorably than similarly situated younger male employees."
In June, she was denied a raise, while younger male employees were granted one, the complaint alleges. Doverspike — the only female and oldest employee in the community affairs department — was ultimately let go in July in an alleged effort to reduce the department.
Gasiorek said Doverspike's employment file was exemplary before she was replaced as director. Then, within months, he said, she was criticized by superiors, who claimed she didn't fit the company's new focus.
Doverspike started working for the Detroit Lions community relations department as an intern in 1991. During that time, the lawsuit says, she earned a master's degree in sports administration and was hired as a community relations assistant in 1992. She was promoted to assistant director of community affairs in 2000.
Bankruptcy for AMF Bowling
story first appeared in Wall Street Journal
AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc., the world's largest operator of bowling alleys, filed for bankruptcy-court protection Tuesday after being squeezed by a cash crunch and failing to find a buyer for its business.
The filing marks AMF's second trip through bankruptcy since 2001. The company, which employs 7,000 people, has struggled with both a heavy debt load and a shift in the sport.
The bowling industry has been in flux for decades. Once largely a blue-collar pastime dominated by leagues, it has shifted to a sport aimed at middle-class players, who seek amenities and attractive facilities and are generally averse to joining the teams that provide bowling alleys with steady income.
Tom Clark, the commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association, said that even as the number of people bowling at least once a year is at a high of about 70 million, only about two million are competing regularly in leagues.
AMF, which sold off its bowling alleys overseas in a previous restructuring, operates 262 bowling centers in the U.S. Small chains and mom-and-pop operators now dominate the industry, which includes more than 5,000 bowling alleys.
AMF said that it would have upgraded its facilities to cater to today's bowlers, but the economic downturn reduced its revenue, thwarting its plans. The company does have nine bowling centers with lounges and modern décor, a response to competitors like Lucky Strike, a chain of upscale bowling centers with a dress code.
Facing what it called "unmanageable" debt levels, AMF began searching for a buyer last year. After an unsuccessful hunt, it instead began reaching out to creditors to discuss a restructuring.
The deal, which will be subject to bankruptcy-court approval, calls for AMF to exit Chapter 11 under the ownership of its senior lenders, subject to rival bids at a court-overseen auction. Either way, the lenders, which are owed more than $216 million, would see their claims paid in full.
AMF said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection within the next five months. Steve Satterwhite, AMF's chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said they'd be recapitalizing their balance sheet and reducing debt.
AMF, which said it hosts more than 20 million bowlers a year, said its financial troubles are tied to the bowling industry's shift to open play from leagues. It also attracted fewer bowlers during the economic downturn, which slashed revenue while the company's fixed costs remained high.
Tuesday's bankruptcy filing came about a week after AMF defaulted on its debt obligations, according to Standard & Poor's.To ensure its uninterrupted operations while it restructures, AMF won court approval Tuesday afternoon to tap $35 million of a $50 million bankruptcy loan from some of its existing senior lenders, a group led by Credit Suisse .
The Mechanicsville, Va., company reported assets and debts that were each in the range of $100 million to $500 million in its bankruptcy petition, which court papers show was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va.
In 1996, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led a $1.37 billion leveraged buyout of AMF from Richmond, Va., businessman William Goodwin. The firm went public in November 1997 but was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange three years later.
AMF first sought Chapter 11 protection in July 2001 to address declining revenue and its acquisition of 260 additional bowling centers, which the company said it struggled to manage. AMF emerged from bankruptcy protection the following year under the ownership of its secured lenders, though it quickly sought a new owner.
Chicago private-equity firm Code Hennessy & Simmons bought the bowling company in a $670 million deal and presided over what AMF called a "simplify and transform" strategy that involved shedding foreign assets and installing new management. According to the company, its financial results showed improvements between 2005 and 2008.
Steve Johnson, executive director of the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, said the bowling industry has been making a comeback in recent years.
Tom Clark, the commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association, said that even as the number of people bowling at least once a year is at a high of about 70 million, only about two million are competing regularly in leagues.
AMF, which sold off its bowling alleys overseas in a previous restructuring, operates 262 bowling centers in the U.S. Small chains and mom-and-pop operators now dominate the industry, which includes more than 5,000 bowling alleys.
AMF said that it would have upgraded its facilities to cater to today's bowlers, but the economic downturn reduced its revenue, thwarting its plans. The company does have nine bowling centers with lounges and modern décor, a response to competitors like Lucky Strike, a chain of upscale bowling centers with a dress code.
Facing what it called "unmanageable" debt levels, AMF began searching for a buyer last year. After an unsuccessful hunt, it instead began reaching out to creditors to discuss a restructuring.
The deal, which will be subject to bankruptcy-court approval, calls for AMF to exit Chapter 11 under the ownership of its senior lenders, subject to rival bids at a court-overseen auction. Either way, the lenders, which are owed more than $216 million, would see their claims paid in full.
AMF said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection within the next five months. Steve Satterwhite, AMF's chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said they'd be recapitalizing their balance sheet and reducing debt.
AMF, which said it hosts more than 20 million bowlers a year, said its financial troubles are tied to the bowling industry's shift to open play from leagues. It also attracted fewer bowlers during the economic downturn, which slashed revenue while the company's fixed costs remained high.
Tuesday's bankruptcy filing came about a week after AMF defaulted on its debt obligations, according to Standard & Poor's.To ensure its uninterrupted operations while it restructures, AMF won court approval Tuesday afternoon to tap $35 million of a $50 million bankruptcy loan from some of its existing senior lenders, a group led by Credit Suisse .
The Mechanicsville, Va., company reported assets and debts that were each in the range of $100 million to $500 million in its bankruptcy petition, which court papers show was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va.
In 1996, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led a $1.37 billion leveraged buyout of AMF from Richmond, Va., businessman William Goodwin. The firm went public in November 1997 but was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange three years later.
AMF first sought Chapter 11 protection in July 2001 to address declining revenue and its acquisition of 260 additional bowling centers, which the company said it struggled to manage. AMF emerged from bankruptcy protection the following year under the ownership of its secured lenders, though it quickly sought a new owner.
Chicago private-equity firm Code Hennessy & Simmons bought the bowling company in a $670 million deal and presided over what AMF called a "simplify and transform" strategy that involved shedding foreign assets and installing new management. According to the company, its financial results showed improvements between 2005 and 2008.
Steve Johnson, executive director of the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, said the bowling industry has been making a comeback in recent years.
Labor Law Changes in Mexico
story first appeared in New York Times
Mexico’s Congress has approved broad changes to the country’s antiquated labor law that will make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, signaling the first major economic change in Mexico in more than a decade.
Mexico’s Congress has approved broad changes to the country’s antiquated labor law that will make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, signaling the first major economic change in Mexico in more than a decade.
The law is also a test case for the incoming president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who has promised to push ahead with legislation that experts say would modernize the economy and invigorate its modest growth rate.
The labor overhaul, which the Senate passed late Tuesday, streamlines the cumbersome rules that analysts say discourage small businesses from hiring workers and instead push millions of Mexicans into the underground economy.
Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, passed the bill last week, and it will now go to President Felipe Calderón to sign. The bill’s passage was a victory for the president, who has tried repeatedly to pass economic changes only to see them watered down or languish in Congress. Minority left parties voted against the bill, arguing that it would remove protections for workers.
Although Mr. Peña Nieto, who takes office Dec. 1, supported the law, his own party managed to reverse some of the proposals in the original legislation that would have limited the control of Mexico’s union bosses. The country’s large public sector unions are a bulwark of Mr. Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.
PRI legislators initially stripped out all the language that would have required more democracy and transparency from union leaders, but in the end, the PRI representatives and legislators from the left formed an unusual alliance, and the PRI was forced to agree to union elections by secret ballot and require a yearly audit of union finances. However, other efforts to improve union transparency, including giving workers the right to vote on their own contract, remained out.
Such moves have raised questions about how far Mr. Peña Nieto will go to stand up to union leaders. He will have to negotiate with the bosses of the teachers’ and oil workers’ unions if he pushes ahead with promises to overhaul the country’s failing schools and open the state-run oil monopoly to private investment.
Although Mexico has recovered the jobs that it lost after the sharp recession of 2009, an increasing number are in the underground economy, where workers have no protection or legal benefits. Mexico’s statistics institute estimates that more than 29 percent of workers are informally employed.
Analysts said that the bill was an important step that could help workers and improve the country’s productivity.
The labor changes will have a positive impact on the quality of job creation, according to Luis Arcentales, an analyst with Morgan Stanley Research, in a report before the bill’s Senate passage.
Among the most important changes was a one-year limit on the back wages employers must pay a worker who wins a lawsuit over a wrongful dismissal. Under the old law, the suits dragged on for years and employers were liable for all back pay if they lost.
The law also introduces part-time jobs and temporary training contracts. It regulates some of the murky practices of outsourcing temporary workers without paying them benefits, a measure many employers had used to get around the 42-year-old labor law.
The labor overhaul, which the Senate passed late Tuesday, streamlines the cumbersome rules that analysts say discourage small businesses from hiring workers and instead push millions of Mexicans into the underground economy.
Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, passed the bill last week, and it will now go to President Felipe Calderón to sign. The bill’s passage was a victory for the president, who has tried repeatedly to pass economic changes only to see them watered down or languish in Congress. Minority left parties voted against the bill, arguing that it would remove protections for workers.
Although Mr. Peña Nieto, who takes office Dec. 1, supported the law, his own party managed to reverse some of the proposals in the original legislation that would have limited the control of Mexico’s union bosses. The country’s large public sector unions are a bulwark of Mr. Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.
PRI legislators initially stripped out all the language that would have required more democracy and transparency from union leaders, but in the end, the PRI representatives and legislators from the left formed an unusual alliance, and the PRI was forced to agree to union elections by secret ballot and require a yearly audit of union finances. However, other efforts to improve union transparency, including giving workers the right to vote on their own contract, remained out.
Such moves have raised questions about how far Mr. Peña Nieto will go to stand up to union leaders. He will have to negotiate with the bosses of the teachers’ and oil workers’ unions if he pushes ahead with promises to overhaul the country’s failing schools and open the state-run oil monopoly to private investment.
Although Mexico has recovered the jobs that it lost after the sharp recession of 2009, an increasing number are in the underground economy, where workers have no protection or legal benefits. Mexico’s statistics institute estimates that more than 29 percent of workers are informally employed.
Analysts said that the bill was an important step that could help workers and improve the country’s productivity.
The labor changes will have a positive impact on the quality of job creation, according to Luis Arcentales, an analyst with Morgan Stanley Research, in a report before the bill’s Senate passage.
Among the most important changes was a one-year limit on the back wages employers must pay a worker who wins a lawsuit over a wrongful dismissal. Under the old law, the suits dragged on for years and employers were liable for all back pay if they lost.
The law also introduces part-time jobs and temporary training contracts. It regulates some of the murky practices of outsourcing temporary workers without paying them benefits, a measure many employers had used to get around the 42-year-old labor law.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Dyson takes Bosch to Court for Stealing Secrets
story first appeared on usatoday.com
Vacuum powerhouse Dyson filed legal proceedings Wednesday against Bosch in Britain's High Court, accusing its German rival of having obtained corporate secrets through a mole within a high-security research and development department.
Dyson, known for its popular bagless vacuum cleaner, claims a rogue engineer working in its facility in Malmesbury for Dyson digital motors was handing information on "secret motor technology" to Bosch for up to two years.
Dyson representatives say the company was forced to take legal action after Bosch refused to return the technology or cease using it for its own products.
Dyson alleges that Bosch paid the mole through an unincorporated business created solely for that purpose and that Bosch's vice president, Wolfgang Hirschburger, was aware of the engineer's work.
Mark Taylor, Dyson Research and Development director, said Bosch benefited from Dyson's know-how and expertise.
Bosch disputed some of the facts.
It said in a statement that Dyson had employed an individual with a pre-existing consultancy agreement with Bosch Lawn and Garden Ltd. in relation to garden products — "and not vacuum cleaners or hand dryers as Dyson implies."
The company expressed regret that Dyson has pursued legal action, saying it has been trying to establish what happened and what, if any, confidential information was supposedly passed between the companies.
Vacuum powerhouse Dyson filed legal proceedings Wednesday against Bosch in Britain's High Court, accusing its German rival of having obtained corporate secrets through a mole within a high-security research and development department.
Dyson, known for its popular bagless vacuum cleaner, claims a rogue engineer working in its facility in Malmesbury for Dyson digital motors was handing information on "secret motor technology" to Bosch for up to two years.
Dyson representatives say the company was forced to take legal action after Bosch refused to return the technology or cease using it for its own products.
Dyson alleges that Bosch paid the mole through an unincorporated business created solely for that purpose and that Bosch's vice president, Wolfgang Hirschburger, was aware of the engineer's work.
Mark Taylor, Dyson Research and Development director, said Bosch benefited from Dyson's know-how and expertise.
Bosch disputed some of the facts.
It said in a statement that Dyson had employed an individual with a pre-existing consultancy agreement with Bosch Lawn and Garden Ltd. in relation to garden products — "and not vacuum cleaners or hand dryers as Dyson implies."
The company expressed regret that Dyson has pursued legal action, saying it has been trying to establish what happened and what, if any, confidential information was supposedly passed between the companies.
Bank of America faces Mortgage Fraud Federal Lawsuit
story first appeared on usatoday.com
Federal prosecutors slapped Bank of America with a $1 billion-plus civil mortgage fraud lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the bank of engineering a scheme that defrauded federally-backed mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the national financial crisis.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York accuses the bank of using a loan-origination program called the "Hustle" to process mortgage applications at high speed with little checking for fraud, misstatements or other wrongdoing.
Prosecutors charge the program, allegedly in operation from at least 2007 through 2009, was begun under Countrywide Financial and Countrywide Home Loans, and was continued by Bank of America when it bought Countrywide's operations in a controversial July 2008 acquisition.
The result, the suit alleges, was defective mortgage loans that defaulted after Bank of America sold them to Fannie and Freddie, causing more than $1 billion in losses and thousands of foreclosures, according to the 46-page complaint filed in Manhattan.
"Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who announced the lawsuit with Steve Linick, inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Christy Romero, special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Spokesman Lawrence Grayson said Bank of America has acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters, and that claims that the bank has failed to repurchase loans from Fannie Mae are false, he said.
The bank's shares dropped after news of the lawsuit broke and finished the day down 5 cents to $9.31 Wednesday. Shares rose in after-hours trading.
Citing internal Countrywide documents, prosecutors said the aim of "Hustle" –- officially HSSL, or High Speed Swim Lane -– was to have loans "move forward, never backward," and to remove "toll gates" that could slow the loan process.
The lawsuit charged that in lieu of underwriter review, Countrywide assigned critical underwriting tasks to loan processors who were previously considered unqualified even to answer borrower questions.
The alleged scheme also contained a speed incentive. Employees involved in mortgage processing were awarded bonuses based on volume, eliminating previous metrics that helped calculate loan quality.
The lawsuit says Countrywide executives were aware of the problems. For example, a quality review in January 2008 showed that 57% of "Hustle" loans defaulted.
Instead of notifying Fannie and Freddie, Countrywide, the suit alleges, deliberately concealed the quality of the loans it sold to Bank of America. The suit says Countrywide even offered a bonus to quality-control workers who could "rebut" defaults found under review.
The lawsuit didn't give specifics, but accuses Countrywide, and later Bank of America, of selling "thousands" of "Hustle" loans to Fannie and Freddie.
Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from banks, package them and then sell the packaged securities to investors. When Fannie and Freddie buy loans from banks, banks can make new loans to aspiring home owners. Fannie and Freddie, in addition to mortgages they issue, earn profits selling pooled loans of differing credit quality to institutional investors.
Fannie and Freddie guarantee loans that are packaged into securities sold to investors. But, according to this lawsuit, Fannie and Freddie also didn't review the mortgages before they were purchased from banks. The agencies relied on banks' statements asserting the loans met certain qualifications.
The case is the sixth filed in the past 18 months by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office against major banks over allegations of reckless mortgage practices that contributed to the financial crisis.
Meantime, a coalition of fair housing agencies has amended an earlier complaint against the nation's largest bank, accusing it of failing to maintain and market foreclosed homes in black and Latino neighborhoods.
The coalition evaluated more than 500 homes Bank of America owns in 13 cities and found significant disparities in how houses in predominately non-white neighborhoods were maintained and marketed compared with houses in mostly white neighborhoods.
Among the 22 properties the group evaluated in Indianapolis, those in black and Latino neighborhoods were more likely to have trash, overgrown grass and shrubs, broken doors and windows, damaged roofs, and other maintenance issues.
Not a single house in non-white neighborhoods had for-sale signs, the complaint says. About 27% of the homes in white communities had for-sale signs.
The complaint from the National Fair Housing Alliance and 10 local fair housing agencies was amended Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's fair housing office to include homes in Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee.
The earlier complaint included homes in Atlanta; Charleston, S.C.; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Oakland/Concord/Richmond, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix and the Washington, D.C., area.
Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said many of the problems found in black and Latino communities, such as clogged gutters, could be easily fixed to prevent more serious problems, such as roof damage.
She also pointed out purchase price and assessments of homes under Bank of America's control have declined dramatically and that surrounding non-foreclosed homes are well maintained.
Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney representing the fair housing agencies point out that it is illegal for Bank of America to provide far worse maintenance or repairs in communities of color.
In a statement, Bank of America denied the allegations.
Federal prosecutors slapped Bank of America with a $1 billion-plus civil mortgage fraud lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the bank of engineering a scheme that defrauded federally-backed mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the national financial crisis.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York accuses the bank of using a loan-origination program called the "Hustle" to process mortgage applications at high speed with little checking for fraud, misstatements or other wrongdoing.
Prosecutors charge the program, allegedly in operation from at least 2007 through 2009, was begun under Countrywide Financial and Countrywide Home Loans, and was continued by Bank of America when it bought Countrywide's operations in a controversial July 2008 acquisition.
The result, the suit alleges, was defective mortgage loans that defaulted after Bank of America sold them to Fannie and Freddie, causing more than $1 billion in losses and thousands of foreclosures, according to the 46-page complaint filed in Manhattan.
"Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who announced the lawsuit with Steve Linick, inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Christy Romero, special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Spokesman Lawrence Grayson said Bank of America has acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters, and that claims that the bank has failed to repurchase loans from Fannie Mae are false, he said.
The bank's shares dropped after news of the lawsuit broke and finished the day down 5 cents to $9.31 Wednesday. Shares rose in after-hours trading.
Citing internal Countrywide documents, prosecutors said the aim of "Hustle" –- officially HSSL, or High Speed Swim Lane -– was to have loans "move forward, never backward," and to remove "toll gates" that could slow the loan process.
The lawsuit charged that in lieu of underwriter review, Countrywide assigned critical underwriting tasks to loan processors who were previously considered unqualified even to answer borrower questions.
The alleged scheme also contained a speed incentive. Employees involved in mortgage processing were awarded bonuses based on volume, eliminating previous metrics that helped calculate loan quality.
The lawsuit says Countrywide executives were aware of the problems. For example, a quality review in January 2008 showed that 57% of "Hustle" loans defaulted.
Instead of notifying Fannie and Freddie, Countrywide, the suit alleges, deliberately concealed the quality of the loans it sold to Bank of America. The suit says Countrywide even offered a bonus to quality-control workers who could "rebut" defaults found under review.
The lawsuit didn't give specifics, but accuses Countrywide, and later Bank of America, of selling "thousands" of "Hustle" loans to Fannie and Freddie.
Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from banks, package them and then sell the packaged securities to investors. When Fannie and Freddie buy loans from banks, banks can make new loans to aspiring home owners. Fannie and Freddie, in addition to mortgages they issue, earn profits selling pooled loans of differing credit quality to institutional investors.
Fannie and Freddie guarantee loans that are packaged into securities sold to investors. But, according to this lawsuit, Fannie and Freddie also didn't review the mortgages before they were purchased from banks. The agencies relied on banks' statements asserting the loans met certain qualifications.
The case is the sixth filed in the past 18 months by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office against major banks over allegations of reckless mortgage practices that contributed to the financial crisis.
Meantime, a coalition of fair housing agencies has amended an earlier complaint against the nation's largest bank, accusing it of failing to maintain and market foreclosed homes in black and Latino neighborhoods.
The coalition evaluated more than 500 homes Bank of America owns in 13 cities and found significant disparities in how houses in predominately non-white neighborhoods were maintained and marketed compared with houses in mostly white neighborhoods.
Among the 22 properties the group evaluated in Indianapolis, those in black and Latino neighborhoods were more likely to have trash, overgrown grass and shrubs, broken doors and windows, damaged roofs, and other maintenance issues.
Not a single house in non-white neighborhoods had for-sale signs, the complaint says. About 27% of the homes in white communities had for-sale signs.
The complaint from the National Fair Housing Alliance and 10 local fair housing agencies was amended Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's fair housing office to include homes in Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee.
The earlier complaint included homes in Atlanta; Charleston, S.C.; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Oakland/Concord/Richmond, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix and the Washington, D.C., area.
Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said many of the problems found in black and Latino communities, such as clogged gutters, could be easily fixed to prevent more serious problems, such as roof damage.
She also pointed out purchase price and assessments of homes under Bank of America's control have declined dramatically and that surrounding non-foreclosed homes are well maintained.
Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney representing the fair housing agencies point out that it is illegal for Bank of America to provide far worse maintenance or repairs in communities of color.
In a statement, Bank of America denied the allegations.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Wells Fargo Fires Man for 48-year-old Cardboard Dime
story first appeared on usatoday.com
A man who was fired over a 49-year-old arrest for putting a cardboard dime in a laundry machine, has turned down an offer from Wells Fargo to return to his job.
The bank fired Richard Eggers, a former customer service representative, in July under a federal employment rule for financial institutions that was expanded after the 2007-08 financial crisis.
Eggers declining the return had less, he says, to do with his own need, but rather as a statement about the thousands of working families hurt by the same rules.
Employment attorneys estimate that as many as 3,000 low-level bank employees have lost their jobs under the rule, which was expanded to include mortgage originators. The rule prohibits employment of anyone convicted of dishonest behavior.
Wells Fargo confirmed Wednesday that it offered to rehire Eggers on Oct. 12 and return him to work in his former position and at his former annual salary of $29,795. He was cleared to return to work in the banking sector by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Sept. 26, after it approved his request for an employment waiver.
A record number of fired bank workers are pursuing such waivers. The FDIC, which handles the waivers, is on pace for a record 189 applications this year and received 151 in 2011. The agency averaged 50 applications a year from 1995 to 2010.
Attorney Leonard Bates, who is representing Eggers for the Newkirk Law Firm in Des Moines, said his client sought to negotiate more humane terms for all Wells Fargo employees fired under the expanded employment rule. Those request included the following:
Wells Fargo maintains that the terminations were forced on it by the expanded rule, which carries a $1 million-a-day fine for each violation.
The bank employs 13,000 people in the Des Moines area and 265,000 worldwide.
Some employees fired after the change had recent convictions, while others like Eggers were many years old. Though his wasn't a case of child abuse or anything that would have required a child protective services defense lawyer. Obviously, it was just a cardboard coin.
The tale of Eggers' firing has been reported by newspapers, TV news broadcasts, magazines and websites around the world the past two months, including the German magazine Der Speigel and the Guardian newspaper in England. He is scheduled to appear on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
A man who was fired over a 49-year-old arrest for putting a cardboard dime in a laundry machine, has turned down an offer from Wells Fargo to return to his job.
The bank fired Richard Eggers, a former customer service representative, in July under a federal employment rule for financial institutions that was expanded after the 2007-08 financial crisis.
Eggers declining the return had less, he says, to do with his own need, but rather as a statement about the thousands of working families hurt by the same rules.
Employment attorneys estimate that as many as 3,000 low-level bank employees have lost their jobs under the rule, which was expanded to include mortgage originators. The rule prohibits employment of anyone convicted of dishonest behavior.
Wells Fargo confirmed Wednesday that it offered to rehire Eggers on Oct. 12 and return him to work in his former position and at his former annual salary of $29,795. He was cleared to return to work in the banking sector by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Sept. 26, after it approved his request for an employment waiver.
A record number of fired bank workers are pursuing such waivers. The FDIC, which handles the waivers, is on pace for a record 189 applications this year and received 151 in 2011. The agency averaged 50 applications a year from 1995 to 2010.
Attorney Leonard Bates, who is representing Eggers for the Newkirk Law Firm in Des Moines, said his client sought to negotiate more humane terms for all Wells Fargo employees fired under the expanded employment rule. Those request included the following:
- Providing waiver application information to workers fired under the employment rule, as well as to workers facing new background checks to enable them to seek a waiver while still employed.
- Automatically approving unemployment applications filed by workers fired under the rule.
- Reclassifying workers fired under the rule to "temporary layoff" or "administrative leave" to allow them to escape the stigma of being fired when seeking new employment.
- Lobbying for the rule to be modified to ease the burden on low-level employees.
Wells Fargo maintains that the terminations were forced on it by the expanded rule, which carries a $1 million-a-day fine for each violation.
The bank employs 13,000 people in the Des Moines area and 265,000 worldwide.
Some employees fired after the change had recent convictions, while others like Eggers were many years old. Though his wasn't a case of child abuse or anything that would have required a child protective services defense lawyer. Obviously, it was just a cardboard coin.
The tale of Eggers' firing has been reported by newspapers, TV news broadcasts, magazines and websites around the world the past two months, including the German magazine Der Speigel and the Guardian newspaper in England. He is scheduled to appear on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
iPhone Software Head Fired for Refusing to Apologize for Maps App
story first appeared on usatoday.com
The head of Apple's iPhone software development was asked to resign after he refused to sign a letter apologizing for the flaws in Apple's mapping application, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal says Scott Forstall's refusal was the latest clash between him and other executives, and it led to the company's announcement Monday that he is stepping down and leaving the company next year.
Forstall's unit was responsible for the Maps application, which was unfavorably compared to the Google Maps app it replaced.
Apple also announced the immediate departure of John Browett, a British retail executive who took over Apple's stores in April.
Forstall, the longtime head of Apple's iOS mobile software, will remain an adviser to Cook until next year.
Apple's lead designer Jony Ive and a few others will divide Forstall's responsibilities until a replacement is named, Apple said.
The departures, which come shortly before the critical holiday shopping season, might have long-term implications at Apple but are unlikely to impact its sales as Apple competitors such as Google and Amazon.com ramp up mobile offerings, says Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner.
Apple offered no explanation for the departures, but both executives oversaw major missteps in the past year.
Browett took over the retail job about six months ago. His predecessor, Ron Johnson, a major architect of the successful Apple stores, left to become CEO at JCPenney. One of Browett's first moves was to cut staff at the stores, a cost-cutting move the company has since reversed.
Forstall, who also was part of the team that created Mac OS X, oversaw the creation of the widely criticized Apple Maps that recently replaced Google Maps as the default map app for the iPhone. The company has apologized for the inadequacies of Apple Maps.
Since stock markets were closed Monday and will be again Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, it will be later in the week before any potential effect on Apple's stock is known.
The head of Apple's iPhone software development was asked to resign after he refused to sign a letter apologizing for the flaws in Apple's mapping application, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal says Scott Forstall's refusal was the latest clash between him and other executives, and it led to the company's announcement Monday that he is stepping down and leaving the company next year.
Forstall's unit was responsible for the Maps application, which was unfavorably compared to the Google Maps app it replaced.
Apple also announced the immediate departure of John Browett, a British retail executive who took over Apple's stores in April.
Forstall, the longtime head of Apple's iOS mobile software, will remain an adviser to Cook until next year.
Apple's lead designer Jony Ive and a few others will divide Forstall's responsibilities until a replacement is named, Apple said.
The departures, which come shortly before the critical holiday shopping season, might have long-term implications at Apple but are unlikely to impact its sales as Apple competitors such as Google and Amazon.com ramp up mobile offerings, says Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner.
Apple offered no explanation for the departures, but both executives oversaw major missteps in the past year.
Browett took over the retail job about six months ago. His predecessor, Ron Johnson, a major architect of the successful Apple stores, left to become CEO at JCPenney. One of Browett's first moves was to cut staff at the stores, a cost-cutting move the company has since reversed.
Forstall, who also was part of the team that created Mac OS X, oversaw the creation of the widely criticized Apple Maps that recently replaced Google Maps as the default map app for the iPhone. The company has apologized for the inadequacies of Apple Maps.
Since stock markets were closed Monday and will be again Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, it will be later in the week before any potential effect on Apple's stock is known.
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