Judge rules against Freightliner appeal - San Francisco Business Times:

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"Judge Brewer bascialy accepted our said Myers spokeswomanStephanie Soden. "It'sx a positive step for the state." The lawsuit stems from an $850 millioj judgment a Multnomah County jury awardedf the German truck manufacturer Man AG inDecembert 2006. Man AG had sued Freightliner over a transaction dispute that originated in theUnites Kingdom. The judgment included roughly $500 in economic damages and $350 milliobn in punitive damages. Under Oregon law, the state is entitle to 60 percent of the punitive damages inany lawsuit, or $210 million of the judgmenyt against Freightliner. The money is earmarked to benefittcrime victims.
Before the state could collectthe money, Freightliner settled the case with Man outside of The settlement included dropping the punitive damages portion of the jury award. Because the state did not consent to the Myers claims Freightliner owesOregon $210 million. He filefd suit in Marion Countu in August 2007 seekingthat Wednesday's ruling says the state has legal standing to pursued the money and puts it one step closed to collecting. Freightliner had asked the court to dismissxthe lawsuit. Soden declined to say if the stats has initiated settlement talkswith Freightliner. A spokeswoma n for Freightliner did not immediatelgy respond to a requestfor comment.
At a November news conference, however, Freightline CEO Chris Patterson said the lawsuit could play a role inthe company'ws deliberations about the future of its Swan Islansd headquarters. "It would be disingenuousw to characterize that as a decisive Patterson said atthe time. it was opportune. We'rre disappointed that our home state has taken thisaggressivwe posture. It was a bitter disappointment to the people of At the samenews conference, Pattersom announced 341 of the company's 2,540 white-collaf workers at its Swan Island headquarters would be moverd to Ft. Mill, S.C., abouyt 30 minutes south of Charlotte.
Multnomahy County CommissionerJeff Cogen, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler and Mayor Tom Potter went to bat for the truck manufacturert last fall, sending a letter to Myers and asking him to forgo collection of the judgment. They argued the dispute originater in Europe and did not harmany Therefore, the state's not entitled to the The Business Journal subsquently filed a publicc records request with North Carolina's Department of Commerce for Freightliner'a application for tax incentivezs there, should it decide to move jobs to the On the application, the company notex that it's North Carolina presence could eventuallty qualify as a "centrapl office (national or regional headquarters).
" The Charlotter Business Journal, an affiliate publication, ran a story last week sayingv the truck manufacturer has hired a developer to startg work on a 400-acre site that locak county officials expect will become the company's new headquarters. In an e-mail to the Business Journal in the company reiterated that no decision has been made abouf the future of itscorporate headquarters. "Azs noted in our Nov. 1 pres s release, our site negotiations have included contingencies in the event that Daimledr Trucks chooses to base more of our Nort h Americanactivities [on the East Coast] at some time in the said Freightliner spokeswoman Amy Sills in an e-mail.
"Alsok referencing the original release, any such decisions woulr be contingent on the evolutio of our relationship with ouraffiliated companies, and on markegt dynamics."