Category: litigation

San Jose Mercury: Tech Execs Sue Over Tax Shelter. Five Silicon Valley executives — including four with ties to Cisco Systems — are suing Ernst & Young, claiming the Big 4 accounting firm peddled them a tax shelter that left them owing millions of dollars in taxes, penalties and damages. The five men invested more than $50 million total, a sum that the Internal Revenue Service estimates would generate $150 million in tax losses.

Invest in a company I get. Invest in real estate I get. But, invest in a tax shelter? Huh? I’m not sure invest is the right word to use. At least, unless people are investing at the craps table in Vegas as well. Robert L. Puette “invested” $6,666,667 in the tax shelter. Couldn’t find any contracts involving the other “investors” though.

Food Production Daily: Argentina Nabs Bazooka Joe. An Argentine gum manufacturer has been granted the right to continue making Bazooka gum, despite an acrimonious end to its business relationship with the Topps company who own the iconic US brand.

The article above adds, “Topps contended that Stani held only the rights to the brand names rather than the specialized technology used to make them.” The last time I had a piece of Bazooka Joe chewing gum, it was hard and lost its flavor rapidly. Specialized technology, eh? I’ve added Topps Company contracts to the web site. No chewing gum contracts with any Argentine companies, but plenty of trading card contracts with various sports leagues.

The Morning Call: Agere Sues Sony, Claims Patents Infringed. Agere Systems is accusing Sony Corp. of illegally using eight of its patents in a variety of products, including PlayStation, the popular gaming console.

I’ve posted Agere Systems Inc. (AGR) contracts, including the patent and license agreement between it and Lucent when it was spunoff.

BusinessWeek: SAVVIS Places CEO on Unpaid Leave. Savvis Inc. placed its chief executive on an unpaid leave of absence Monday while it investigates the nonpayment of charges incurred on a corporate credit card at a Manhatttan topless club.

Visit the Smoking Gun if you’re interested in reading the Complaint between American Express and SAVVIS.

I’ve just added the Employment Agreement between SAVVIS and CEO Robert McCormick to the site. I guess we won’t be seeing him on an Amex commercial any time soon. You can view SAVVIS contracts and Scores contracts as well.

New York Times: SEC Wants Day in Court With Scrushy. Last week, Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, walked out of a federal courthouse in Birmingham with an acquittal, but his business in the building is not done yet. Mr. Scrushy still faces civil lawsuits, including a securities fraud suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sure, he’s still facing civil lawsuits, but what’s a couple dollars or even a couple million dollars? Without the threat of jail hanging over him, he surely must be relieved. Who do you think was most surprised by the verdict? The prosecutors? Nah. I think it must be his underlings who turned against him and made a deal with prosecutors. Now, they’ll face jail time while he walks free. I’ve added HealthSouth contracts to the site, including Richard Scrushy’s employment agreement.

San Francisco Chronicle/New York Times: Tyco’s Kozlowski Guilty of Fraud. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chairman and chief executive of Tyco International, and his top lieutenant were convicted Friday on fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny charges, bringing an end to a three-year-long case that came to symbolize an era of corporate greed and scandal.

I don’t think they have $6,080 shower curtains in prison. On the Tyco International Ltd. contracts page, you can find Dennis Kozlowski’s Retention Agreement, Mark Schwartz’s Retention Agreement and Mark Schwartz’s Severance Agreement.

Reuters: H&R Block lawsuit settlement blocked. H&R Block Inc., the largest U.S. tax preparer, on Friday said a federal judge had blocked a proposed $360 million settlement of a lawsuit over loans given in anticipation of tax refunds.

I’ve added H&R Block contracts to the site. Besides the usual employment agreements, this batch also includes a number of refund anticipation loan agreements with H&R Block’s partners.

Yahoo! / AP: Sony Fined $90.7M in PlayStation Case. A judge has ordered Sony Corp. to pay $90.7 million to a company that develops technology that enhances video game realism but immediately stayed an order that would halt U.S. sales of Sony’s popular PlayStation consoles.

We have some Immersion Corp. contracts, including some intellectual property license agreements.

Industry Standard: Burst, Microsoft Reach Settlement. Microsoft Corp. will pay video player software vendor Burst.com Inc. US$60 million to settle Burst’s antitrust and patent-infringement claims. The settlement will give Microsoft a nonexclusive right to Burst’s media player software, according to a Burst press release from late Friday.

Here are the Burst.com contracts.