Free Republic

SCO seals deal for legal expense cap Published: November 5, 2004, 10:30 AM PST By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com The SCO Group has signed a previously announced agreement with two law firms that will cap legal expenses for its Linux and Unix litigation at $31 million, the company said in a legal filing Thursday. The expense cap agreement--announced Aug. 31 but signed Oct. 31--puts to rest some uncertainty about the company's abilities to pay the hefty legal fees incurred through its legal attacks against IBM, Novell, AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler and its legal defense against Red Hat. SCO's stock...

A new study found that if all vehicles were equipped with stability control, an electronic safety technology that the industry has been slow to adopt, some 7,000 lives a year could be saved. Stability control, which has sensors that determine when a driver is about to lose control of the vehicle and try to correct that course, reduced the risk of being in a fatal single-vehicle crash by 56%, according to the study to be released today by the Arlington, Va.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That group is the research arm of the insurance industry. It is the second...

Once again, DaimlerChrysler has given money to fund homosexual activists in a platform to defeat Michigan’s Marriage Amendment, Proposal 2. You can read about it below. In response to your calls earlier this week, Chrysler's issued a strongly worded statement, suggesting that PFLAG's use of their money for a billboard ad to express opposition to Proposal 2 would be a violation of the law. Here is the phone number of James Kenyon and Angela Ford at DaimlerChrysler. We thought you might want to call them after reading about their latest donation to homosexual causes. James Kenyon, Director of Sales &...

Tens of thousands of employees of German-U.S. car giant DaimlerChrysler are expected to down tools Thursday in a day of protest against management's cost-cutting plans. Germany's largest industrial labor union, IG Metall, called for a concerted day of action against what it says are unacceptable measures to cut costs at one of the country's biggest corporations. Some 600 workers at a Mercedes plant in Düsseldorf kicked off the action with an overnight demonstration by torchlight through the city streets. At DaimlerChrysler's main site in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart in southern Germany, around 20,00 employees answered the call to strike and stopped...

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - German-American auto maker DaimlerChrysler may cut 6,000 jobs and shift some production of the new C-class models outside of Germany if its works council opposes deeper cost cuts, it said on Monday. Until now, employee representatives have agreed to just 180 million euros ($223 million) in annual personnel cost cuts despite demands from management to save 500 million euros, the firm said. Guenter Fleig, Daimler's management board member responsible for personnel, said the possible job cuts would be at the company's Sindelfingen plant near Stuttgart. The company wants to move production of the C-class, due in...

While Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry addressed education during a speech at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, critics of Daimler-Chrysler picketed outside the building. Reverend Jackson is trying to help Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry connect with African American voters and this year's Rainbow PUSH conference provided a perfect venue. But Kerry's appearance this morning was overshadowed by a crowd of black activists. They're angry at Jackson for allowing an allegedly racist auto company to underwrite a portion of the rain be bow push conference. "The black vote is not for sale. The black vote is not for sale," chanted the demonstrators. Nearly...

DaimlerChrysler to stop building Dodge, Chrysler cars in Normal NORMAL, Ill. - DaimlerChrysler will stop building Dodge and Chrysler cars at Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s auto plant here in 2005, the company said Wednesday. The decision comes at the end of a five-year agreement, and is not related to recent financial troubles at Mitsubishi Motors, plant spokesman Dan Irvin told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph. "We knew we were building cars for them through June of next year," Irvin said. "There was not any plan to do anything after that." Chrysler Group spokesman Dave Elshoff declined to say if the company would build...

Document shows SCO prepped lawsuit against BofALast modified: March 4, 2004, 12:25 PM PST By Stephen Shankland and Scott Ard Staff Writer, CNET News.com exclusive The SCO Group filed lawsuits this week against DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone, but the Unix seller's attorneys also had prepared a complaint against Bank of America, according to a document. A Microsoft Word document of SCO's suit against DaimlerChrysler, seen by CNET News.com, originally identified Bank of America as the defendant instead of the automaker. This revision and others in the document can be seen through powerful but often forgotten features in Microsoft Word known as...

DETROIT - A long-simmering dispute between the beefy sport utility brands Hummer and Jeep has heated up with one-upmanship claims and accusations of copied designs. The mud-slinging between the off-road SUV brands began nearly three years ago when DaimlerChrysler AG’s Jeep claimed the about-to-be launched Hummer H2 from General Motors Corp. copied its grille. That battle ended when a judge allowed the H2 to go into production, but now the war has moved from the courtroom to television commercials, the printed page and the auto show floor. At stake is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable segments of the...

Few would argue that the Dodge Tomahawk defies common sense. After all, who needs a motorcycle that reaches a top speed of more than 250 mph, cranks out 525 hp, and goes from 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds? Moreover, who needs a vehicle that – if it ever reaches full-scale production – could be priced at a staggering $250,000? Obviously, no one needs it. But the Tomahawk isn't about need, and it certainly isn't about common sense. "My first reaction to this idea was that it didn't seem like the most intelligent use of power," says Mark Walters, the DaimlerChrysler...

This thread dedicated to NASCAR fans worldwide.God Bless our past and present Armed Forces members.

German execs fear boycott over Iraq February 24, 2003 MUNICH -- German auto executives are keeping a wary eye on the United States, fearing a boycott over the German government's opposition to war with Iraq. Bernd Gottschalk, head of the VDA, the German car industry association, is apprehensive about discord between Berlin and Washington. "Although our relationships to the customers in America have grown for many years and can stand a lot, we should not put them at risk carelessly," Gottschalk says. Despite German fears, most U.S. consumers have shown no inclination to boycott anything. "We have talked to dealers...

Okay, Jesus Christ would not have driven a sport utility. He would have had a 4x4 pickup with crew cab. It's Salem all over again. This time the alleged witches are sport utility vehicles, said to be the work of the Devil. More particularly, the government's chief safety official says SUVs are too dangerous. The Wall Street Journal says in an article: "Auto Makers Start To Back Away From Big SUVs." The greenies say the big cars heat up the earth, the know-nothings blame them for Arab terrorism, and the yahoos figure that Jesus wouldn't drive one. Where does all...

CHICAGO, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of customers today filed a class- action lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler's (Chrysler) (NYSE: DCX - News) financing subsidiary accusing the company of denying credit to customers in the Chicago area based on race, and repossessing vehicles of customers living in predominantly black neighborhoods without justification or proper notification. The suit claims Chrysler management systematically and intentionally denied low-interest vehicle financing to creditworthy blacks in two Chicago neighborhoods, based on the neighborhood in which they lived and the dealership they selected to purchase the car. The suit also contends that the practice continues today in...

CNSNews.com) - Another conservative group has demanded an apology from DaimlerChrysler for the remarks made last week by one of the company's top executives. Most conservative critics of Jesse Jackson, DaimlerChrysler Senior Vice President Frank Fountain said, have a "myopic view of the world." Fountain commented while appearing at Jackson's Wall Street Project fundraiser in New York City. Peter Flaherty, president of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), wrote a letter to Chrysler Group President Dr. Dieter Zetsche demanding the company withdraw Fountain's remarks and "cease financial support for Jesse Jackson and his organizations." "Since one of...

German Businesses Head for Lower-Cost Shores As it becomes easier to operate in Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic, even smaller companies are starting to relocate   Several times a day, a barge slowly makes its way across the Oder River from Poland to Germany, carrying a cargo upon which much of Berlin's economy rests. Literally. Aboard the vessel are freshly washed and pressed bedsheets bound for Berlin's finest business hotels. Not that German workers aren't capable of doing laundry. In fact, Fliegel Textilservice, an overnight-linen service for Berlin hotels such as the five-star Adlon, is German-owned, and it is equipped...

<p>Southfield, Michigan, Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- If you want to anger a General Motors Corp. executive these days, just offer the opinion that the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are the highest-quality midsize sedans.</p> <p>You may sustain a vigorous tongue-lashing for failing to acknowledge that the latest J.D. Power and Associates survey of initial quality ranks General Motors's Buick Century ahead of the Camry and the Accord.</p>

Georgia's governor is doing a lot of crowing about why his state was selected over South Carolina for a DaimlerChrysler plant.In the middle of a political campaign, Gov. Roy Barnes is now saying that DaimlerChrysler officials raised the issue of the Confederate flag. The company denies it, but there is definitely some fire from which the verbal smoke is coming.The story broke last weekend with Barnes telling The Atlanta newspapers that the automaker was aware of controversy in South Carolina. He revealed that the NAACP sent a letter to DaimlerChrysler urging the company to reject the state as a location...

The NAACP sent a letter to Daimler-Chrysler urging them not to locate a plant in South Carolina because of the poor race relations in the state. But the group’s boycott does nothing to build race relations. Denying economic opportunities to South Carolinians and tying the state to poverty will not improve race relations or any aspect of the state’s life. Whether the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s efforts had any impact on Daimler-Chrysler’s decision to reject South Carolina is in dispute. Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes says it came up during his talks with the company. Gov. Jim...

The NAACP urged DaimlerChrysler not to invest in South Carolina and said Tuesday it will do the same with other major industrial prospects, extending its campaign against the Confederate flag to a new economic front. James Gallman, president of the South Carolina branch of the NAACP, said he asked the group's national office to write the German automaker urging it not to build a plant near Summerville because of the group's boycott of the state over the flag issue. DaimlerChrysler acknowledged receiving the letter, but insisted it was not a factor in the decision to choose Savannah as the site...