EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it would reconsider a panel’s decision to delay the state’s recall election of Gov. Gray Davis set for Oct. 7th … Japan’s Toshiba Corp. said it plans to cut 200 workers from its Irvine-based Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. unit. Toshiba is restructuring the U.S. computer unit in a bid to stem market-share losses to rivals Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., which are aggressively cutting prices. Toshiba will have 1,050 workers at the unit after the job reductions.
TECHNOLOGY
Scott Blum, founder and owner of Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc., sued Merrill Lynch & Co. and one of its managing directors, Thomas Mazzucco, for $800 million. Blum alleges Merrill Lynch committed fraud and breach of fiduciary duty stemming from its role in the Internet retailer’s 2000 initial public offering. Blum bought back Buy.com for $23.6 million in 2001 … ITT Industries Inc. said it has cut about 250 workers from its Cannon unit in Santa Ana since March. The White Plains, N.Y.-based company now has about 550 workers in OC … Shareholders rejected a buyout offer from the founder of Santa Ana-based Troy Group Inc. Patrick Dirk and his family offered to buy out shareholders for $2.76 a share. Meanwhile, Costa Mesa-based Westar Capital LLC made a $4 a share offer for the company, a deal that was nixed by Dirk and his family, who own 65% of Troy’s shares … A judge ruled that Santa Ana-based SimpleTech Inc. can’t go to court over a patent suit it filed against Garden Grove-based DPAC Technologies Inc.
HEALTHCARE
A former worker at Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. sued the company, its founder and former chief executive, Milan Panic, and former president, Adam Jerney, for sexual harassment. The woman alleges she was assaulted and coerced into a sexual relationship with Jerney and was harassed by Panic. A lawyer representing Jerney and Panic said they believed the claims are without merit … Research sponsored by Irvine-based Allergan Inc. found that Botox injections can give long-term relief to migraine sufferers. Allergan is running its own trials and could file for regulatory approval of Botox as a migraine treatment next year. The Houston Headache Clinic studied 208 patients during three years … UCI Medical Center in Orange will get $3.7 million in federal funds to help pay for outpatient and emergency-room treatment given to Medi-Cal patients.
REAL ESTATE
Pamela Meyers, a former worker at Miami-based Lennar Corp.’s Coto de Caza welcome-home center, sued the homebuilder and two workers for sexual harassment. One of the workers targeted by the suit, Jeffrey Young, has served jail time for drilling a peephole into a women’s bathroom. Meyers is seeking up to $1 million.
FINANCE
Santa Ana-based PriVest Bank was bought by Newport, Minn.-based America Bancshares Inc. for $10.9 million. PriVest has 18 workers and $90.5 million in assets … Newport Beach-based Downey Financial Corp. said the bank’s assets of $11.6 billion at the end of August were 1.8% higher than a year ago. The bank said that its nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets was 0.53%, down from 0.75% a year earlier.
GOVERNMENT
Researchers at University of California, Irvine’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology center won a $9 million grant to develop technology to be used by disaster-response teams to communicate more quickly. Meanwhile, UCI’s center named Albert F. Yee as director … A House of Representatives budget panel said the proposed CenterLine light-rail project won’t get any funding for 2004. Last year the Orange County Transportation Authority got $1.5 million to develop light-rail plans … The state Department of Transportation settled a lawsuit with Irvine over the city’s environmental impact report on redevelopment at the former El Toro Marine base. Irvine agreed to further study the traffic implications of residential and commercial development on the site.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Boeing Co. said it is moving 130 jobs from its Huntington Beach Delta rocket headquarters to Alabama and Florida. Employees who don’t want to move east stand a good chance of being transferred to other Boeing operations in the area, the company said … Milton States, a former internal auditor with Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp., filed suit against the company over his termination. States alleges that he was fired after he told Fluor officials that the company’s earnings were overstated by $16 million in 2001 because of accounting irregularities. The engineering company said it vigorously disputes States’ allegations … A report from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said that up to 1,000 workers at W.R. Grace & Co.’s Santa Ana factory were exposed to high levels of asbestos and face serious health risks. The report urges those who worked at the plant between 1972 and 1993 to get medical help. The plant now employs about 35 people making fire-resistant products … Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said it paid fired chief executive Kathy Bronstein more than $3 million to settle damages filed by Bronstein against the teen retailer. Bronstein, who was dismissed in February, also can exercise 405,000 stock options worth about $4.1 million by June 2005.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Orange County’s housing market in August, with 5,511 homes bought, 18% higher than a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems. The median price of a home rose 18% to $435,000 in the month.
