European giants in class action over BA cargo price-fixing
Legal World
BRITISH Airways could be forced to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds to settle a class action lawsuit relating to cargo price-fixing, it emerged yesterday.
Several European blue-chip companies, including Ikea, Volvo and TNT, are said to have joined the lawsuit and noted that BA has set aside £350 million to pay fines.
The airline has already paid out $300m (£174m) levied by the US department of justice (DoJ). Two thirds was related to cargo price-fixing and $100m concerned price-fixing related to passengers.
According to documents filed to a US district court, the class action suit concerns shipments valued at $29 billion. Ten present and former BA executives, including the current director of operations, have not received protection from prosecution under a plea agreement between the airline and US prosecutors investigating the price-fixing conspiracy.
BA said four of the ten still worked for the airline.
Three weeks ago, Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, assured customers and the media that only a "very limited number of individuals" were involved in the two illegal cartels through which BA had fixed the fuel surcharges.
Yet papers released by the DoJ have confirmed that the corruption inquiry into BA went beyond Martin George, its former commercial director, and Iain Burns, its former head of communications, the only two named in the press before this weekend.
The DoJ said it was "carving out" ten current and former senior BA executives from an immunity deal that will settle BA's criminal liability in the US. The individuals, who have yet to be charged, could face criminal prosecution and, ultimately, jail.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.