Judge rules against Freightliner appeal - San Francisco Business Times:

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"Judge Brewer bascialy acceptedour arguments," said Myers spokeswomanm Stephanie Soden. "It's a positivew step for the state." The lawsuit stemw from an $850 million judgment a Multnomab County jury awarded the German truck manufacturerr Man AG inDecember 2006. Man AG had sued Freightlinere over a transaction dispute that originated in theUnitex Kingdom. The judgment included roughly $500 in economic damages and $350 millio n in punitive damages. Undefr Oregon law, the state is entitled to 60 percent of the punitive damages inany lawsuit, or $210 million of the judgment agains t Freightliner.
The money is earmarked to benefit crime Before the state coulcd collectthe money, however, Freightliner settled the case with Man outsids of court. The settlemenrt included dropping the punitive damages portion of thejury award. Becausse the state did not consentf tothe deal, Myers claims Freightliner owes Oregon $210 He filed suit in Marion Countuy in August 2007 seeking that Wednesday's ruling says the state has legal standintg to pursue the money and puts it one step close r to collecting. Freightliner had asked the court to dismiswsthe lawsuit. Soden declined to say if the state has initiated settlemengt talkswith Freightliner.
A spokeswoman for Freightliner did not immediately respondf to a requestfor comment. At a November news conference, Freightliner CEO Chris Patterson said the lawsuit couldf play a role inthe company'as deliberations about the futur of its Swan Island "It would be disingenuous to characterize that as a decisive Patterson said at the "However, it was opportune. We're disappointed that our home state has takehn thisaggressive posture. It was a bitter disappointmeng to the peopleof Freightliner." At the same news conference, Pattersoh announced 341 of the company's 2,540 white-collar workersd at its Swan Islancd headquarters would be moved to Ft. Mill, S.C.
, aboutf 30 minutes south of Charlotte. Multnomah Counth Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Multnomah Countyt Chair Ted Wheeler and Mayor Tom Pottee went to bat for the truck manufacturerelast fall, sending a letter to Myersx and asking him to forgo collectioh of the judgment. They argued the dispute originatex in Europe and did not harmany Therefore, the state's not entitled to the cash. The Businesd Journal subsquently filed a public recordse request withNorth Carolina's Department of Commerce for Freightliner's application for tax incentivesx there, should it decide to move jobs to the On the application, the company notedd that it's North Carolina presence could eventually qualifhy as a "central office (national or regiona headquarters).
" The Charlotte Business Journal, an affiliat publication, ran a story last week sayinbg the truck manufacturer has hired a developer to stargt work on a 400-acre site that local county officialds expect will become the company's new In an e-mail to the Businesz Journal in December, the company reiterated that no decision has been made about the futurre of its corporate headquarters. "As noted in our Nov.
1 presz release, our site negotiations have includer contingencies in the event that Daimler Trucks chooses to base more of our North Americanactivities [on the East at some time in the said Freightliner spokeswoman Amy Sills in an "Also referencing the original release, any such decisionx would be contingent on the evolution of our relationshio with our affiliated companies, and on marke t dynamics.
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