Indianapolis-based Norwood Promotional Products is facing legal challenges from a half-dozen former executives who say board
members and investors conspired to fire them, withhold severance pay and cheat them out of as much as $3.6 million in company
stock.
It was a long time coming, but attorneys for the defunct Paul Harris women’s apparel chain have won a whopper of a settlement-$9.9 million-with the company’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers. In a lawsuit filed five years ago, they accused PwC of “gross negligence” for failing to detect a $7.5 million inventory shortfall and other accounting breakdowns. They charged that the discovery of the discrepancy in the spring of 2001 scuttled the final stages of negotiations to extricate the Indianapolis-based company from bankruptcy…
He’s held off Conseco’s attorneys longer than anyone else. And if he can get to a jury, he’s confident he can win. Dennis E. Murray Sr., a colorful trial lawyer from Ohio, likely will be the last man standing in Conseco’s 3-1/2-year assault on a group of its former directors and officers who failed to repay hundreds of millions of dollars borrowed to buy Conseco stock. The Carmel-based insurance firm has settled with nine of the 11 borrowers in that…
If it sounds too good to be true-invest! This perversion of the old adage has cost many investors their life savings. How does it happen? In talking to many investors who’ve been victimized by outright scams, I’ve noticed the tendency of some to respond to what we call “The Big Lie.” Most investors seem to keep their guard up pretty high when approached about investing in a scheme that might return 10 percent, 15 percent or even 25 percent in…
Autobase Inc. has inked a partnership with tech heavyweight Microsoft Corp. that might fuel growth for the Indianapolis-based
marketing-software maker. The deal will allow Autobase to piggyback its software on Microsoft’s as the Seattle company launches
products aimed at auto dealers.
In today’s America, the separation (or lack thereof) of church and state is a political lightning rod. The separation of church and sports is not of concern. That’s because the media already has taken care of it. In the sports media, references to religion in general or of a higher being in particular are not welcome. For athletes or coaches to say their success has come from the gifts given to them by their Creator does not compute in the…
Emmis Communications Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan won’t have to face his nemesis—Elkhart-based investment manager Frank Martin—when the company holds its annual meeting tomorrow. Martin has submitted a proposal on the meeting agenda that would do away with a special class of stock that gives Smulyan 60 percent of the company’s voting power, even though […]
Subaru plans to move assembly of its redesigned 2008 Impreza compact car from Japan to its plant in Lafayette, according to Edmunds.com. The respected automotive Web publisher did not cite its source. Calls placed by IBJ to the plant and to Subaru of North America headquarters in New Jersey were not returned. The new Impreza […]
Indianapolis attorney Max Siegel has been president of NASCAR race team Dale Earnhardt Inc. only nine days, but already finds himself negotiating with the man who wants to be his boss. Dale Earnhardt Jr. told reporters Wednesday he wants to own at least 51 percent of the Charlotte, N.C., race team. As president, […]
Old National Bank has given Indianapolis entrepreneur Tim Durham an additional 12 months to repay loans that went into default Nov. 1. If Durham repays the loans by Nov. 1 this year, Old National will drop a lawsuit it filed in December seeking $2.6 million, the Evansville-based bank said today. Earlier today, Durham issued a […]
Daimler-Chrysler AG will eliminate 10,000 blue-collar jobs as part of a sweeping restructuring that will shrink Chrysler and integrate it more closely with its German parent, the Detroit News reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plan. Project X” aims to reverse losses that mounted to $1.2 billion for Chrysler last year. However, it is […]
Polian’s long and winding road Architect of Colts’ success worked his way to the top Bill Polian never took the straight line to anything or anywhere. He never had that luxury. The multi-sport schoolboy athlete from the Bronx never had the advantage of an inside track. So he broke in to the National Football League […]
Last September, when tragic errors led to the deaths of three infants at Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital, the hospital did something that, just a few years ago, might have seemed unthinkable: It acknowledged the tragedy and admitted that mistakes were made. “We are all saddened by this news and our hearts are with this family and all the families who have been affected,” a hospital spokesman told The Indianapolis Star. Added Methodist President and CEO Sam Odle, “Ultimately, the blame for…
As this is being written, it is uncertain which head coach will grasp the Lombardi Trophy. Those of us here certainly hope it is the Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy. If not, however, Floyd Keith of the Indianapolis-based Black Coaches Association still can’t lose. Because the trophy then would be in the hands of the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith. As most of the world knows by now, Super Bowl XLI in Miami was going to be historic even before the opening…
Only road contractors, Ruth Reiman and the Devil himself are welcoming interstate reconstruction that could cause mass chaos for east-side commuters this year. For Reiman and her team at Central Indiana Commuter Services, the $175 million Interstate 70 project starting Feb. 25 might be the best recruiting tool since stratospheric gasoline prices a year ago. “I’m just waiting for them to hit the first lane closure,” said Reiman, executive director of federally funded CICS. CICS-rhymes with kicks-hopes to lure lone…
A federal law that took effect Jan. 1 requires hospitals and others serving the Medicaid population to teach their employees how to detect fraud and report it to the government. Medicaid is the joint federal-state program that provides health insurance coverage to the needy and is prone to abuse. In an effort to reduce abuse, the legislation requires companies that do at least $5 million annually in Medicaid business to educate all employees and officers on how to spot fraud….
Leaders of the 20-year-old Arts Council of Indianapolis want to broaden the organization’s approach to arts advocacy. They
say they’d like to act as a cultural broker of sorts, making sure local artists are connected with possible patrons.
Bill Polian, the multi-sport schoolboy athlete from the Bronx, never had the advantage of an inside track. So he broke into
the National Football League the only way he knew how: by outworking and outsmarting the competition. By all accounts, Polian,
64 and now president of the Indianapolis Colts, is still at it.
Duane Etienne’s role as the leader of a local elder-care agency provides him the benefit of knowing how to navigate the intricacies of the modern medical maze more than most. Yet, the 65-year-old admitted he still had trouble deciphering the fine print on his parents’ insurance policies. “It’s just too complicated,” said Etienne, president of the local CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions. “I work this business every day, and it’s complex for me. But I’ve got people I can go…
Indiana recyclers concerned that waste-burning firms could gain status as recyclers–and vie for state grants and loans they’ve
relied on for years–now have a potential competitor on the radar.
