A federal court judge will now let General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley have attorneys present during a meeting the judge ordered so they could resolve GM's racketeering lawsuit against FCA.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman on Saturday amended his order to allow the two CEOs — Barra is also GM's chairman — to have attorneys with them at both the private in-person meeting he is requiring and in a video meeting to update the judge on their progress, which is to happen by Wednesday. Borman noted that court rules prohibit "admission of statements made during compromise negotiations."
The judge's amended order followed a GM petition Friday to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have the case reassigned. The automaker argued it would not get a fair hearing before the judge in light of comments in his initial order that the case was a "waste of time and resources" in light of the challenges facing the country involving racism and COVID-19.
GM, in the lawsuit filed in November, claims FCA cost it billions of dollars by corrupting the contract bargaining process with the UAW in an effort to force a merger between the two companies, an ultimately unsuccessful goal of the late Sergio Marchionne, FCA's former CEO who features prominently in GM's lawsuit. FCA, which is working toward a merger with Peugeot-maker PSA Group to create the world's fourth-largest automaker, has said it would "continue to defend itself vigorously and pursue all available remedies in response to GM's groundless lawsuit."
The suit connects to the long-running corruption scandal involving the UAW, which has seen convictions against 14 former union and FCA officials. Gary Jones, the disgraced ex-UAW president, faces sentencing later this year. The corruption case, which has implications for the future of the 400,000-member labor union, involved widespread examples of self-dealing, involving bribery, kickbacks and misspent funds on golf, fancy dinners and even jewel-encrusted pens. The UAW, which has announced a number of reforms in light of the scandal, is not a defendant in GM's case, but Alphons Iacobelli, the former lead labor negotiator for FCA, and two other ex-FCA officials are in addition to FCA.
More: GM fights judge's order that Barra, FCA's Manley meet to resolve racketeering lawsuit
More: Judge wants Mary Barra, Mike Manley to help heal America, orders meeting on lawsuit
More: UAW activists say they should be allowed to sit in on Gamble's meeting with U.S. attorney
GM, though spokesman Jim Cain, issued a new statement Saturday following the judge's order:
“Our petition identifies a number of issues that are of great concern to us as we seek to hold FCA and others accountable for their racketeering crimes and direct harm to GM.”
A request for comment was sent to an FCA spokeswoman.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.
Business - Latest - Google News
June 28, 2020 at 12:27AM
https://ift.tt/2VG9mVx
Judge will let GM's Barra, FCA's Manley have attorneys present during in-person meeting - Detroit Free Press
Business - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Rx7A4Y
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Judge will let GM's Barra, FCA's Manley have attorneys present during in-person meeting - Detroit Free Press"
Post a Comment