LOCAL BUSINESS
MGA lawsuit dismissed
Mattel Inc. won dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit by MGA Entertainment Inc., the toy maker that sought $1 billion in damages. MGA, the parent company of Hudson-based Little Tikes, alleged that competitor Mattel violated antitrust laws in a dispute over Bratz dolls.
U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, Calif., dismissed MGA’s complaint. The judge had thrown out the case in October, saying MGA’s allegations should have been raised in previous litigation, and allowed the closely held company to file an amended complaint. This time, he didn’t grant an option to refile.
A jury in April rejected Mattel’s claims that MGA had stolen the idea for its Bratz dolls and agreed with MGA that Mattel stole MGA’s trade secrets when its employees got into the company’s showrooms at toy fairs by using phony business cards.
In August, Carter ordered Mattel to pay MGA $225 million in punitive damages, attorney fees and costs. That ruling brought the total award in the trial over the Bratz doll’s origins to $310 million. MGA filed its antitrust lawsuit in February 2011 after the jury trial had already begun. MGA Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian said the company will appeal.
Hudson firm ranked
Hudson investment firm Broadleaf Partners was ranked 30th in Lipper’s Top 40 money managers for a 12-quarter (three year) period ending Dec. 31, 2011, in the U.S. Large-Cap Growth Equity category. The Broadleaf Growth Equity Portfolio showed a rate of return of 18.59 percent to $45.4 million in assets over that period. The average return for the category, out of 229 firms, was 15.68 percent, according to ratings firm Lipper. Munder Capital Management-Growth Opportunities was ranked first by Lipper with a 30.93 percent return on investment to $444.6 million in assets.
B&W has contracts
Babcock & Wilcox Co.’s Power Generation Group Inc. subsidiary will provide emission control equipment and related technology to several of Texas-based Luminant’s coal-fired power plants. The Charlotte-based company said Power Generation Group in Barberton signed contracts totaling approximately $65 million to design and supply emissions control equipment for four of Luminant’s coal-fired power plants, including construction at two plants. The company expects to announce additional work for Luminant.
Separately, Babcock & Wilcox’s mPower small modular nuclear reactor product resulted in it being named one of the world’s most innovative technology companies.
B&W was among the 2012 “TR50,” an annual list put out by Technology Review, a media company owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Technology Review says the companies in the TR50 have commercial innovations most likely to change lives worldwide. Technology Review editors nominate companies to the TR50.
Income up at Interstate
Richfield specialty insurance company National Interstate Corp. reported it earned $12 million, or 62 cents per share, for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31 and $35.6 million, or $1.83 per share, for all of 2011. That compares to $5.5 million, or 28 cents per share, for the fourth quarter a year ago and $39.5 million, or $2.03 a share, for 2010, the company reported.
National Interstate said it earned an adjusted 56 cents per share for the quarter compared to 36 cents a year ago; for the year it earned $1.78 a share compared to $1.58 for 2010.
National Interstate reported gross premiums written of $114.7 million for the fourth quarter, up 9 percent from a year ago. Full year gross premiums totaled $526.3 million, up 20 percent from a year ago.
TIRE INDUSTRY
Negotiations at Cooper
Negotiations were to resume Wednesday in Findlay between Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers union that represents the 1,050 locked-out factory workers. The two sides had a lengthy meeting Tuesday, said Pat Gallagher, a United Steelworkers union subdirector.
In a letter posted to the USW Local 207L website last week, president Rod Nelson said the last formal negotiating session was Dec. 13, though informal meetings have continued. The letter said Cooper officials gave union leaders a new written proposal on Friday — the first since the “last-best offer” that the union voted down in November. Management locked out the workers following the vote.
But Nelson wrote that the negotiating committee was “extremely disappointed” by the Feb. 17 offer and that it “does not even mirror the agreement reached at Texarkana.”
Cooper reached an agreement with its labor force in Texarkana, Ark., on Jan. 19. The company also announced a new deal at its Clarksdale, Miss., plant on Feb. 17.
Compiled from staff and wire reports
