GM to pay $277 mln to settle shareholder lawsuit

[doh]

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0080808?rpc=44

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp agreed to pay $277 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit contending the automaker made false and misleading statements, according to the company and lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Deloitte & Touche, which was GM's outside auditor, is contributing an additional $26 million cash payment, bringing the total settlement value to $303 million, law firms Grant & Eisenhofer and Labaton Sucharow said in a statement.

The auto maker disclosed the settlement in a regulatory filing on Thursday. It said the parties reached an agreement in principle last month.

"The settlement is subject to the negotiation of a formal agreement, which will be filed with the court in late August or early September 2008," GM said.

GM will be required to pay one-half of the money into an escrow account within 30 days of preliminary court approval of the settlement, and the other half into an escrow account in January 2009. The case is being overseen by a federal judge in Michigan.

"GM is pleased with the litigation settlement that has been reached," GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said on Friday.

[likearock00]

Great! Just another drop in the drop in the financial bucket. When you lose billions each quarter, what's another $277 mil??

[triadecho]

Does anybody know just what the false and misleading statements were?

[Ambalanche]

^ That one day GM would be profitable! Sorry, couldn't resist.

[2002 Caddy]

^^ I'll add that they will stop relying on large trucks and build competitive small cars.

Too many one liners to add here

I didn't know that as a share holder I was suing any one... I wonder how much I will get?

[Buickman]

Plaintiffs allege automaker misled investors about its balance sheet since 2000


NEW YORK (AP) -- Attorneys say General Motors and an accounting firm have agreed to pay $303 million to investors to settle a lawsuit surrounding allegations that the automaker misstated its finances.

Attorneys with plaintiffs Deka Investment GmbH and Deka International SA say GM has agreed to pay $277 million, while Deloitte & Touche LLP will pay $26 million.

The settlement is pending approval from the presiding judge in the case.

The case stems from claims that GM issued false and misleading statements about its finances to investors going back to 2000.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/08/news...e.ap/index.htm

[Buickman]

when is enough enough? I'm all for Kwame and Red Ink Rick to be cellmates. what is it about Detroit that downright stupidity is allowed to continue?

[camaro_freak]

ah yes.. how many one line zingers can we come up with here...

insert joke here.....

good grief

[2002 Caddy]

The scary part of the news story was

A GM (GM, Fortune 500) spokeswoman says the company is pleased with the settlement and looks forward to the lawsuit being resolved.

This is the Upsidedown work of GM Management... Black is white, Bad is good, Small is Big, Up is down...

WTF since when is ANYONE happy to be sued... and is HAPPY to lose... and is Happy to pay out almost 300 Million... because you can't keep the books staight...

Wasn't Rick in the Finance department before he became top dog...

Just wondering is this 300 million built in to the 15 billion announcement from early this week?

[tkrelston]

Originally Posted by Buickman

when is enough enough? I'm all for Kwame and Red Ink Rick to be cellmates. what is it about Detroit that downright stupidity is allowed to continue?

Your constant whining, immature name calling, and short-sighted “downright stupidity”, was enough years ago!

Be constructive, your constant negativity is getting really old.

Yes there are thousands of ways GM can and should be moving to improve the company, and despite what we the consumer and enthusiasts see, much of it is happening. However there are unfortunately too many contracts, legal changes, social changes, technology changes, and economic changes occurring at the moment that prevent GM from making a broad sweeping corporate shake up. Every new product has made huge gains in quality and general aesthetics, and yet GM is still managing to cut long term cost. Turning around a company that does business in over 120 countries of the world in a year or two after a century of forced obligations, poor product planning, occasional poor manufacturing, and divisional rank pulling, is simply impossible to achieve over night.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by tkrelston

Yes there are thousands of ways GM can and should be moving to improve the company, and despite what we the consumer and enthusiasts see, much of it is happening. However there are unfortunately too many contracts, legal changes, social changes, technology changes, and economic changes occurring at the moment that prevent GM from making a broad sweeping corporate shake up. Every new product has made huge gains in quality and general aesthetics, and yet GM is still managing to cut long term cost. Turning around a company that does business in over 120 countries of the world in a year or two after a century of forced obligations, poor product planning, occasional poor manufacturing, and divisional rank pulling, is simply impossible to achieve over night.

Your post fails to note that Rick has been at a senior executive level at GM for well over 10 years and HE was PERSONALLY involved with most of the "contracts" ,"legal changes", "poor product planning" or "occasional poor manufacturing" that you discuss... He was also in charge and IGNORED all of the "social changes" and "technology changes"... That you note prevent GM from moving ahead.

Its not name calling or immature to note that Rick has failed as a CEO... That's pretty much a fact.
To call for his resignation is the first step in saving our company.

[johnny smallblock]

Originally Posted by Buickman

when is enough enough? I'm all for Kwame and Red Ink Rick to be cellmates. what is it about Detroit that downright stupidity is allowed to continue?

Do you just cut and paste your old posts or do you actually spend your time writing the same thing over and over again?

[KingElvis]

Doesn't this have to do with that "one time charge" GM took like two years ago - it was where they revised their bottom line numbers using some 'creative accounting.'

[baloo]

A little more background:

The pact, which still requires court approval, would end a lawsuit led by subsidiaries of Germany's DekaBank that were appointed lead plaintiff in the case.

GM was accused of issuing a string of materially untrue statements that created a false impression of its financial health from 2000 to 2006.

The plaintiffs said the company deceived stock and bond holders in a variety of ways, including allegedly improperly accounting for rebates and incentives from suppliers, and failing to properly disclose details of benefits guarantees given to former employees who went to work for Delphi (other-otc: DPHI.PK - news - people ) Corp, which was spun off in 1999.

"To secure this level of recovery from General Motors in the current environment for the company is very telling," said Jay Eisenhofer, a partner at law firm Grant & Eisenhofer, which represented investors in the case. "We are extremely pleased with the settlement and the outcome of this case for shareholders."

http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/...-UPDATE-2.html

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by johnny smallblock

Do you just cut and paste your old posts or do you actually spend your time writing the same thing over and over again?

call me consistent if nothing else. consider that I've been calling for Red Ink Rick to be replaced for over three years, slightly ahead of the curve eh?