Judge refuses to dismiss Toyota gas pedal suits
Published 7:24 pm Friday, November 19, 2010
A federal judge in California said Friday he will not dismiss lawsuits against Toyota from car owners who claim sudden-acceleration defects caused the value of the vehicles to plummet. U.S. District Judge James Selna said in a 63-page ruling that he believes suits filed by car owners who say the value of their vehicles fell after a series of recalls by the Japanese automaker can move forward. Selna said he will issue a final ruling within a week. A hearing over a similar motion to dismiss lawsuits that seek compensation for injury and death due to sudden acceleration will be held in front of Selna on Dec. 9.
Amazon allows e-book gift sales
Amazon.com Inc. has begun allowing customers to give its Kindle e-books to others. Before, customers could only give gift certificates to cover the cost of an e-book. To receive a Kindle e-book gift, the recipient only needs an e-mail address, not necessarily a Kindle e-reader. Although the e-reader starts at $139 for a version that can wirelessly download content over Wi-Fi, Amazon also offers a number of free applications that can be used to read Kindle books on gadgets such as laptops, tablet computers and smart phones. Amazon also reiterated that millions are reading Kindle books on the dedicated e-reader and on free apps.
Wall Street loves cloud computing
A hot high-tech concept known as cloud computing is lifting Salesforce.com Inc.’s stock to lofty heights. The shares rocketed more than 18 percent Friday after Salesforce issued a strong third-quarter earnings report and an optimistic management forecast that persuaded several analysts that the stock is bound to climb even higher. As it is, Salesforce in nearly 6 1/2 year as a public company is proving to be more fruitful than high-tech darling Google Inc. The fervor surrounding Salesforce has been swelling during the past year because the company appears to be sitting in a sweet spot as more businesses and government agencies change the way they buy and use software. After years of paying huge upfront fees to install and maintain applications on individual computers in their offices, more companies are embracing the idea of subscribing to software that can be accessed from any machine with an Internet connection.
Wells Fargo again pays for Wachovia
Wells Fargo &Co. agreed to pay $100 million to Citigroup Inc., the companies said Friday, ending a lawsuit over the San Francisco-based mortgage giant’s controversial acquisition of Wachovia Corp. at the height of the financial crisis. Wells Fargo’s payment to Citi applies to “all claims related to this dispute,” they added. Citigroup agreed to acquire Wachovia but Wells Fargo swooped in to snap it at the last minute. Citigroup had claimed it had exclusive rights to a deal.
From Herald news services
