Articles by Jonathan Stempel

Warren Buffett’s Duracell Sues Energizer Over Battery Life Claims

NEW YORK — Duracell, the battery unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, sued the maker of Energizer batteries on Tuesday, accusing it falsely advertising that its Energizer MAX batteries last up to 50% longer than other alkaline batteries. The …

Court Nixes Insurers’ $65 Million Payment Linked to Stanford Ponzi Scheme

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a settlement requiring insurers to pay $65 million to a court-appointed receiver for companies once run by Allen Stanford, the Texas financier serving a 110-year prison term for running a large Ponzi …

Court Reverses, Goldman Off the Hook for Ex-VP’s Legal Fees

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. should not have been ordered to pay former programmer Sergey Aleynikov’s legal fees to defend against criminal charges that he stole secret code from the bank’s computers, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. All …

Advice to Bankrupt MF Global Could Cost PwC $1Billion

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered PricewaterhouseCoopers to face a $1 billion lawsuit claiming that its bad accounting advice was a substantial cause of the October 2011 bankruptcy of MF Global Holdings Ltd, a brokerage run by former New Jersey …

Court Revives Oil Firms’ Claim Over WWII Toxic Cleanup in California

A divided U.S. appeals court on Monday revived efforts by oil companies to force the federal government to reimburse them for the cost to clean up a southern California site where they had dumped toxic sludge during World War Two. …

Appeals Court Allows Firm’s Cybertheft Claim Against Employee

In a decision that could make it easier for businesses to police cybertheft in the workplace, a U.S. appeals court revived a chemical company’s lawsuit accusing a former Toronto-area employee of using her home computer to steal trade secrets from …

Ford Being Sued Over Truck Fuel Tank Defect

Ford Motor Co. has been sued for allegedly selling trucks with defective fuel tank linings over a 10-year period, and hiding the problem from consumers even as it warned dealers. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in a New Jersey federal court …

Securities Fraud Settlements Dropped in 2011: Study

Angry investors are seeing far fewer financial benefits from lawsuits accusing corporate America of securities fraud, but may be on the cusp of a turnaround. The number and size of securities fraud settlements that won final U.S. court approval fell …