BUSINESS BRIEFS
Outrigger CEO to lead nonprofit
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Outrigger Enterprises Inc. president and CEO David Carey has been elected chairman of the Hawaii Business Roundtable.
Carey, who started his 18-month term this month, succeeds First Hawaiian Bank president and CEO Don Horner as head of the nonprofit business leader organization. Carey was previously vice-chairman of the Roundtable under Horner.
Kamehameha Schools CEO Dee Jay Mailer was named Roundtable vice-chairwoman, and Sprint Hawaii vice-president and general manager Nonie Toledo was named treasurer.
OIL PRICES HIT 4 1/2-MONTH HIGH
WASHINGTON — Oil prices zoomed to a 4 1/2-month high above $68 a barrel yesterday, rallying on supply fears tied to Iran's tense diplomatic standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions.
Labor unrest in oil-rich Nigeria and new threats from al-Qaida contributed to traders' jitters at a time when global petroleum demand is high and the emergency supply cushion is thin, leaving little room in the event of an output disruption.
VIOXX RETRIAL SET FOR NEW ORLEANS
NEW ORLEANS — Although New Orleans has fewer than half the residents it did before Hurricane Katrina, the judge hearing the first federal Vioxx trial has told attorneys he does not expect any problems finding a jury to retry that case.
Judge Eldon E. Fallon told attorneys that notices were sent to 200 potential jurors, and only four replied that they could not attend on the scheduled dates, according to Phil Wittmann, lead attorney for Merck & Co.
A second trial is needed in the Vioxx case because the first, held in Houston, ended with a hung jury.
AMERIQUEST TO SETTLE PROBES
LOS ANGELES — The parent company of mortgage lender Ameriquest has agreed to pay $325 million to settle investigations into its practices by attorneys general in several states, a person familiar with the terms of the agreement said yesterday.
Under the terms of the settlement, ACC Capital Holdings Corp., owner of Ameriquest Mortgage Co., agreed to pay $295 million toward restitution to consumers and $30 million to cover legal fees and other costs, said the person, who asked not be identified because terms of the agreement have not been formally announced.
AIRLINE'S LABOR RELATIONS SOUR
FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines' much-heralded cooperation between labor and management is quickly deteriorating amid an ongoing furor over a slate of management bonuses, union officials said yesterday.
Board members of American's pilots' union met with Gerard Arpey, the airline's chief executive, yesterday morning, and warned him that the company's labor relations have soured substantially since the bonuses were detailed earlier this month. Pilot officials told Arpey that the bonus plan jeopardizes management-union cooperation.
