Articles by Jonathan Stempel and Ludwig Burger

Report Bayer Offered $8 Billion to Settle Roundup Claims Is ‘Fiction,’ Says Mediator

Bayer AG has not offered to pay billions of dollars to settle claims in the United States related to the Roundup herbicide, mediator Ken Feinberg said, dismissing a report to that effect which drove its shares as much as 11% …

Berkshire Hathaway’s Q2 Reflects Slowing Economy, Trade Policy

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Saturday said its quarterly operating profit fell more than analysts expected, as weakness in insurance underwriting, a slowing economy and trade woes weighed on the conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett. Berkshire’s auto insurer Geico suffered …

Court Upholds Facebook Immunity in Case Brought by Terrorist Attack Victims

Facebook Inc. on Wednesday defeated an appeal by American victims of Hamas attacks in Israel, who sought to hold the company liable for providing the group a social media platform to further its terroristic goals. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court …

University Lawsuit Accuses Big Retailers of Infringing ‘Reinvented’ Light Bulb Patent

Five major retailers, including Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc, were sued on Tuesday by the University of California over what it called the “existential threat” when foreign manufacturers infringe schools’ patents. Amazon, Walmart, Target Corp., Ikea AB and Bed Bath …

Bayer Vows Appeal After Judge Cuts Roundup Jury Award to $25M from $80M

A federal judge on Monday slashed a damages award Bayer AG owed a California man who blamed Roundup weed killer for his cancer, to $25.27 million from $80.27 million, while rejecting the company’s bid for a new trial. U.S. District …

Sandy Hook Parents Lose Appeal Against Newtown Over School Shooting

A Connecticut state appeals court has rejected an appeal by the parents of two shooting victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre to hold the town of Newtown and its school district liable. While calling the case “undeniably tragic,” the …

Bondholders Propose Bankruptcy Exit Plan Up to $30B for PG&E

A committee of bondholders of PG&E Corp.’s utility unit on Tuesday proposed a bankruptcy reorganization plan that would inject up to $30 billion to help the California power provider emerge from Chapter 11 and pay off its liability from wildfires. …

JetBlue Lawsuit Claims Walmart Violates Its Trademark with Jetblack Service

JetBlue Airways Corp. has sued Walmart Inc. for trademark infringement, in an effort to stop the world’s largest retailer from using the name Jetblack for its text-based personal shopping service. In a complaint filed on Friday night, JetBlue said Jetblack …

Court Relieves Insurers of $65 Million Payment Linked to Stanford Ponzi Scheme

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a settlement requiring insurers to pay $65 million to a court-appointed receiver for companies once run by Allen Stanford, the Texas financier serving a 110-year prison term for running a large Ponzi …

$200M Settlement Reached in Tribune Leveraged Buyout Fraud Case

Real estate billionaire Sam Zell and other former officers and directors of Tribune Co. have reached a $200 million settlement resolving allegations of fraudulent transactions related to the media company’s disastrous 2007 leveraged buyout. Marc Kirschner, a litigation trustee representing …