Settlement reached in Toyota acceleration cases

FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it has reached a settlement worth more than $1 billion in a case involving unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles.

The company said the deal will resolve hundreds of lawsuits from Toyota owners who said the value of their cars and trucks plummeted after a series of recalls stemming from claims that Toyota vehicles accelerated unintentionally.

Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, said the settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving automobile defects.

"We kept fighting and fighting and we secured what we think was a good settlement given the risks of this litigation," Berman told The Associated Press.

The proposed deal was filed Wednesday and must receive the approval of U.S. District Judge James Selna, who was expected to review the settlement Friday.

Toyota said it will take a one-time, $1.1 billion pre-tax charge against earnings to cover the estimated costs of the settlement. Berman said the total value of the deal is between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Toyota since 2009, when the Japanese automaker started receiving numerous complaints that its cars accelerated on their own, causing crashes, injuries and even deaths.

The cases were consolidated in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and divided into two categories: economic loss and wrongful death. Claims by people who seek compensation for injury and death due to sudden acceleration are not part of the settlement; the first trial involving those suits is scheduled for February.

As part of the economic loss settlement, Toyota will offer cash payments from a pool of about $250 million to eligible customers who sold vehicles or turned in leased vehicles between September 2009 and December 2010.

The company also will launch a $250 million program for 16 million current owners to provide supplemental warranty coverage for certain vehicle components, and it will retrofit about 3.2 million vehicles with a brake override system. An override system is designed to ensure a car will stop when the brakes are applied, even if the accelerator pedal is depressed.

The settlement would also establish additional driver education programs and fund new research into advanced safety technologies.

"In keeping with our core principles, we have structured this agreement in ways that work to put our customers first and demonstrate that they can count on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles," said Christopher Reynolds, Toyota vice president and general counsel.

Current and former Toyota owners are expected to receive more information about the settlement in the coming months. Some information is also available at http://www.ToyotaELsettlement.com , a website created for Toyota owners affected by the settlement.

"We are extraordinarily proud of how we were able to represent the interests of Toyota owners, and believe this settlement is both comprehensive in its scope and fair in compensation," Berman said.

Toyota has recalled more than 14 million vehicles worldwide due to acceleration problems in several models and brake defects with the Prius hybrid. The automaker has blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and stuck accelerator pedals for the problems.

Plaintiffs' attorneys have spent the past two years deposing Toyota employees, poring over thousands of documents and reviewing software code, but the company maintains those lawyers have been unable to prove that a design defect ? namely Toyota's electronic throttle control system ? was responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly.

Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA were unable to find any defects in Toyota's source code that could cause problems.

The company has been dogged by fines for not reporting problems in a timely manner.

Earlier this month, NHTSA doled out a record $17.4 million fine to Toyota for failing to quickly report floor mat problems with some of its Lexus models. Toyota paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for three violations in 2010.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda appeared before Congress last year and pledged to strengthen quality control. Recent sales figures show the company appears to have rebounded following its safety issues.

___

Online:

Settlement website: http://www.ToyotaELsettlement.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-26-Toyota%20Lawsuits/id-ebeb76bc2a444e0d9c74420c95093875

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For Obama's second inauguration, a subdued, less crowded Washington (reuters)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273208214?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Heron: Part 5 | My Brain Cancer Diary

Sailors, raise your hands.

You might have noticed, in Part 1, my contempt for the entitled laziness of some skippers. On reflection I must hedge. My portrait of a pampered ?yachtsman? might apply unfairly to the larger group of ?those who sail,? as was suggested by a recent visit to Portland Yacht Services.

At the end of November, I joined my neighbor Luke in examining a 25-foot sailboat at the PYS yard. Luke and his wife already own a sailboat, but he knows of my interest in sailing, and thought it would make a perfect ?first boat?. He knew the owner. And the price was right: free.

It taught me a little about the yachting world and a lot about myself. No facade of grim formality received us at the PYS office: just some friendly grey-haired guys with calculators. It was a refreshingly capitalist exchange. I was never so delighted to be an anonymous consumer.

Of course, the numbers they crunched did not sum to zero. First of all, there was a winter storage fee of more than $1,000. Shrink-wrap was a few hundred more. Spring launching, more. And the cutlass bearing is going to fail at some point?

So, even if Luke?s friend did give away his sailboat, I?d be knee deep in commitment before it ever touched the sea. It was a frightening thought, and it struck me that while I often pined for the comforts of a sailboat, they weren?t worth the headaches.

My acceptance of windsurfing as a cheap alternative to (traditional) sailing is, I realized, actually a preference. Though a year or two of sailing might cost no more than my $4,000 investment in windsurfing gear, I?d rather have the versatility of windsurfing than the comfort and range of a sailboat.

How much is it costing me to store my windsurfing equipment this winter? Zero dollars. Spring launching? Zero. Take it to the lake? Zero. There is something deeply gratifying about its human scale. I carry it to the water. Then it carries me. We can travel on either side of the water?s edge. It seems almost magical.

That is why, in planning my resumption of the trek, I opted for kayaking. While it lacks the alluring promise of a free ride, it fits perfectly with my freshly acquired ?amphibious? mandate: to travel by water ?with my bed on my back?, and, at any moment, take to shore and disappear.

---

?Roll or Die.?

So said the bumper of an old Volvo wagon that just pulled in to the East End landing with two kayaks on top. A short, athletic young woman bounded out of the driver?s seat. She wore a braid of jet-black hair, from which many wily strands had drifted. She walked, I thought, like a tomboy.

It was early September. The parking lot was full of kayaks, including mine. I was going out paddling to practice ?eskimo? rolls. Everyone else, it seemed, was part of a class. She was one of the instructors.

I told her I was heartened by the sentiment of ?Roll or Die?. For the Inuits who first developed the kayak (and the roll) in icy northern waters, it was literally true. In our warmer waters, and with modern gear, it?s easier to get back into a kayak. But any such ?recovery? is a poor substitute to rolling. In rough conditions, it could come down to ?Roll or Die?.

I had learned to roll last summer by watching YouTube videos. I didn?t even have a spray skirt yet. I flipped over, thrashed around a little bit, failed a few times, and then, to my great surprise, succeeded. Some days later I tried again, but failed completely. Not even close. The required movements seemed impossible to imagine from an upside-down point-of-view, with water all around and air underneath.

In late August of this summer, we visited my in-laws on Shelter Island, New York. I brought my kayak and a book on eskimo rolling and practiced in the pool for hours. I wanted a ?bomb-proof? roll, a dependable, instinctive roll. I studied techniques, variations and drawbacks, and gradually it became easier. I wore a diving mask so that I could see what I was doing, and to keep water out of my nose.

I was confident, I dare say ?prepared? for the second leg of my trip.

Source: http://mybraincancerdiary.com/2012/12/12/heron-part-5/

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Rupee falls for second day; local shares, euro drag

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee fell for a second session on Thursday, dragged by a late slide in the domestic stock market and a fall in the euro, with a crucial inflation number on Friday to give cues ahead of the central bank's rate setting meeting next week.

Shares fell for a fifth day as dealers booked profits in a market which has outperformed its regional peers in 2012 and seen capital inflows of over $20 billion.

The rupee has been supported in recent sessions by inflows on shares sales by state-run miner NMDC Ltd and Bharti Infratel .

About 30 percent of NMDC's $1.1 billion share sale was picked up by foreign investors, sources told Reuters.

Bharti's up to $830 million initial public offering was fully covered by Thursday, a day ahead of issue close.

The rupee's losses were also caused by a rebound in the global dollar on Thursday as investors looked past an expected Fed outcome and booked profits on short dollar positions.

"The recovery in the global dollar and a fall in stocks just turned the tide against the rupee," said Hemal Doshi, currency strategist at Geojit Comtrade.

"Unless the USD/INR closes below 54.25, it will stay in a 54.25-54.80 range."

The partially convertible rupee closed at 54.46/47 per dollar, weaker than its Wednesday's close of 54.32/33.

Investors are now looking forward to the inflation data on Friday, with a Reuters poll showing a 7.60 percent rise in October.

India's central bank is likely to hold rates steady on December 18, but views on a cash reserve ratio cut were split, a Reuters poll conducted before the data release showed.

Credit Agricole, however, expects the rupee to gain next year with a December-end target of 52 to the dollar.

"The INR is trading at relatively attractive levels in REER terms, and seems to have priced in many of the fundamental problems it faces," the brokerage said in a note, referring to the real effective exchange rate (REER).

In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 54.78, while the three-month was at 55.31.

In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar/rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange all closed at around 54.6450, with total traded volume of $5.2 billion.

(Editing by Anand Basu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rupee-falls-2nd-day-local-shares-euro-drag-115250003--finance.html

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Recent maneuvers suggest BofA-MBIA pact likely: analysts

(Reuters) - A long-running legal dispute between Bank of America Corp and insurer MBIA Inc could be settled in early 2013 after recent maneuvers involving MBIA's bonds, analysts at research firm CreditSights wrote.

MBIA won the necessary consent of bondholders to change the terms of some of its debt last month, despite a move by Bank of America to thwart the change. That outcome has reduced the bank's negotiating leverage, increasing the likelihood of a settlement, the analysts wrote in a report dated Tuesday.

Bank of America, the second largest U.S. bank by assets, last week also said that it was proceeding with an offer to buy some of MBIA's bonds, which could be part of a settlement strategy, according to the report. The bank took a similar approach in a pact this year with insurer Syncora Holdings Ltd , CreditSights said.

"We speculate that BofA is adding exposure to MBIA's capital structure to conceal the amount of a settlement so as to not set a precedent for negotiations with other litigants," analysts Rob Haines and Eric Axon wrote.

MBIA and Bank of America declined comment.

The legal wrangling is a major cloud hanging over both companies, which have struggled to recover from mortgage-related troubles from the financial crisis.

MBIA claims that Bank of America owes it billions of dollars over soured mortgages that it wants the bank to buy back. Bank of America says the insurer owes it billions over certain credit default swap transactions.

CreditSights said it expects a comprehensive settlement that would cover both issues.

MBIA proposed the changes to its debt on November 7 to eliminate the risk that it might be considered in default if a troubled insurance unit were put into rehabilitation or liquidation by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

MBIA said at the time that if there were such a default, it would have insufficient liquidity to make good on the notes and would probably immediately pursue other actions, including bankruptcy.

Bank of America countered with an offer to buy MBIA bonds, saying it believed the changes would increase the risk of MBIA's insurance unit being placed in rehabilitation or liquidation. That would jeopardize all policyholder claims, including Bank of America's, the bank said. But on November 26, MBIA said it won the necessary consent of bondholders to make the changes.

On December 5, Bank of America said it waived certain conditions in order to continue with its offer to buy MBIA bonds through Tuesday. It has not said whether it has extended the offer.

CreditSights said MBIA could avoid regulatory seizure for three to four years or potentially altogether if a settlement with Bank of America occurs.

Meanwhile, lawyers for MBIA were in New York State court on Wednesday arguing that at least $12.7 billion of the loans in question were defective. Bank of America's Countrywide mortgage unit disputed that fact.

The hearing is set to resume on Thursday.

Bank of America bought subprime lender Countrywide Financial in 2008.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, N.C. and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/recent-maneuvers-suggest-bofa-mbia-pact-likelya-analysts-193413326--sector.html

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Nexus 4 factory images disappear from Google site

In slightly puzzling news, Google appears to have pulled the Nexus 4 Android 4.2.x system images from its online repository of factory images. These files allow devices to be restored to their original state, so if something goes wrong when flashing a ROM or otherwise tinkering with your phone, there's an easy way back to stock.

Factory images for other Android 4.2 devices, such as the Nexus 10, Nexus 7, Nexus 7 3G and Galaxy Nexus remain on Google's site, so it'd appear whatever caused them to be withdrawn is specific to the Nexus 4.

Our best guess is that this might relate to the LTE situation on the Nexus 4. By changing a hidden setting, it's possible to use the N4 on LTE networks running on Band 4 (AWS), though this is not officially documented or approved by regulators. And that last part may be key -- if Google is preparing to patch this hidden LTE option out of the Nexus 4 -- as it'd be required to do to avoid falling foul of bodies like the FCC -- then clearing out earlier factory images might simply be a precaution. It's possible Google's looking to keep regulators happy by making it harder to find the earlier radio code that enabled this unlicensed LTE functionality. That's just speculation on our part, however, there may be a much more innocuous explanation.

In any case, we'll keep you posted on any further developments.

Source: Nexus Factory Images; via: theandroidsoul

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/aDuMO_KX10A/story01.htm

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Chobani founder turns yogurt into a craze

By Alissa Figueroa
Rock Center

One day in 2005 Hamdi Ulukaya, owner of a small feta cheese company in upstate New York, took a tour that would change his life. As he walked through the 100-year-old yogurt factory, a handful of employees were busying themselves with the work of shutting the factory down.

?On the way back, I called my attorney and I said, ?I just saw a plant and I think I want to buy it,?? explains Ulukaya, a 40-year-old immigrant who grew up on a dairy farm in eastern Turkey. ?He said, "You?re really, really crazy. That's not going to happen.?"

But Ulukaya saw something in the defunct factory that no one else did: an opportunity to bring the yogurt of his youth to the masses. So using loans of less than $1 million, some backed by the Small Business Administration, he bought the plant.

Ulukaya spent the next two years developing the recipe for Chobani yogurt.

NBC News

Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya and Rock Center's Harry Smith.

?That place became my home,? Ulukaya told Rock Center's Harry Smith in an interview airing Thursday, Dec. 13 at 10pm/9CT on Rock Center with Brian Williams. ?It was lonely days, difficult days, a lot of question marks, a lot of pressure to see if I would make it to the next day.?

No longer does Ulukaya have to worry if his company will make its next payroll.

WATCH: Chobani founder on billion dollar Greek yogurt business

Since launching in 2007, Chobani has grown into a $1 billion business, according to Ulukaya, with no signs of slowing down. He also did something arguably more impressive: he changed what Americans eat.

Before Chobani came along, Greek yogurt sales in America were nearly nonexistent. Now, more than a third of the yogurt we eat is Greek, and Chobani is the biggest seller.

Ulukaya's personal wealth is now valued at $1.1 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.

Impact on the local community

The good fortune, though, is not only his. Chobani's rise has been a lifeline for one of the most economically depressed parts of the country: rural upstate New York. This area was struggling long before the recession hit, with tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappearing in the last few decades.

?I expected the plant to sit there vacant [after Kraft left]. I had these visions of it becoming dilapidated and falling apart,? says Maria Wilcox, one of the four remaining Kraft workers that Ulukaya hired from New Berlin, the tiny town where the plant is located.?

Growing from those first few workers, Chobani now employs more than 1,300 people in upstate New York and has made $193 million in capital investments on the old factory.

---

?Other companies came and looked at the plant and the surrounding area and left. [Ulukaya] always had a vision for the plant here that included the community,? says New Berlin Mayor Terry Potter.? ?He?s brought a sense of rejuvenation to the community.?

Along with good-paying jobs, Chobani built New Berlin its first little league field, free of charge.

Chobani also trucks 4 million pounds of milk daily to its New Berlin factory from the area's 5,300 dairy farms. New York produced some 530 million pounds of yogurt in 2011 -- more than twice 2008 levels ? and a direct result of Greek yogurt production.

A new kind of CEO

Ulukaya has been able to accomplish all of this so quickly by bypassing many of the traditional models for business success, especially in the food industry. Instead of focus groups, consultants and big marketing campaigns, Ulukaya has focused on perfecting his product based on response from consumers. Ulukaya still has messages from customers (every single one) forwarded to his cell phone daily.

The company has been particularly good at harnessing the power of positive feedback online.

?The communication is so fast; you don't need huge money for the marketing or your voice to be heard,? says Ulukaya. ?It's a flat world.?

In fact, Chobani has only launched two television ad campaigns, the most recent during the 2012 London Olympics, for which they were an official sponsor. Ulukaya had to pull the ads because the factory couldn?t keep up with the increased demand.

Chobani runs on the idea that consumers? voices will shape the market; with the internet, word of mouth is a more valuable marketing tool than ads, says Ulukaya. This helps new guys on the scene make a big impact quickly. And, he adds, it?s their responsibility to challenge the status quo.

?It's a shame what's in the supermarkets today,? says Ulukaya. ?It doesn't have to have all these preservatives.? It doesn't have to have all these bad colors and stuff like that. . . It's the manufacturer's responsibility. They can make it better. They can make it nutritious, and they can make it accessible. That's what we did in Chobani.?

So what?s next for the company?

Chobani just opened its first retail store, a boutique yogurt bar in SoHo, this summer. Now customers can sit down to enjoy a ?yogurt creation," with gourmet fresh toppings and, of course, Chobani.

Ulukaya is coy about what?s on the horizon for Chobani as far as new products, but he?s clear about one thing: this is only the beginning.

Editor's Note: Harry Smith's full report airs Thursday, Dec. 12 at 10pm/9CT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Source: http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/12/15866373-chobani-founder-turns-centuries-old-greek-yogurt-into-billion-dollar-craze?lite

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