A former “The Wonder Years” co-star who became a HealthSouth Corp. executive is suing his former employer for $400,000 in pay and stock options he claims it owes him after his dismissal. In a lawsuit filed this week in California, Jason Hervey, who played older brother Wayne Arnold on the show, claims his 2002 employment contract required HealthSouth to pay him $300,000 annually for three years as senior vice president of media and communications at the company. When Hervey, 31, was fired March 21, the lawsuit says, he opted to receive payments of $11,538 every two weeks for the duration of his contract, but the suit alleges HealthSouth stopped paying him in November.
Stocks finished higher Friday in an abbreviated post-Christmas session. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.48, or 0.2 percent, to 10,324.67. It was up 0.5 percent for the week. The Standard &Poor’s 500 index advanced 1.85, or 0.2 percent, to 1,095.89, a gain of 0.7 percent for the week. The Nasdaq composite index rose 3.91, or 0.2 percent, to 1,973.14, advancing 1.1 percent for the week. Bonds rose and the dollar advanced against its major counterparts. In commodities trading, soybean futures closed sharply higher, and grain futures also advanced. Beef futures dropped, while pork futures advanced. Most energy and precious metals markets were closed.
FAO Inc. will sell its flagship Manhattan toy store, FAO Schwarz, along with some other assets for $20 million, the bankrupt company announced Friday. The deal with VGACS Acquisition Inc., a subsidiary of D.E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios LLC, also includes a store in the Forum Shops in Las Vegas, as well as FAO Schwarz’s signature clock towers and its Internet and catalog businesses. The parent company hopes to gain bankruptcy court approval of the deal, or any better offer, by Jan. 22.
Parmalat’s auditor insisted it had no role in any illegal schemes to hide the multibillion dollar hole in the food company’s balance sheet, which came to light last week and led the conglomerate to ask for bankruptcy protection. The chief of Grant Thornton’s Italian operations, Lorenzo Penca, said in a statement Friday, “If anything, it was we who were victims of grave fraud.” Prosecutors are investigating about 20 Parmalat officials for fraud and other charges. Police last week raided the Milan offices of Grant Thornton, carting off boxes of documents. Italian reports say about 10 billion euro ($12 billion U.S.) could be missing from Parmalat accounts after what may have been 15 years of false accounting.
From Herald news services
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