Daimler Settles Stockholders Case #1 "Merger Of Equals" Only Costs $300 MILLION - Lawyers Get $67 Million - KKVDCX Still Going

WILMINGTON, Del. February 6,2004; Peg Brickley writing for Dow Jones reported that a federal judge Thursday approved the $300 million settlement of a shareholders class-action lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler Corp. that focused on allegations of fraud in its 1998 merger with the former Chrysler Corp.

U.S. District Judge Kent Jordan signed off on the agreement, which he reviewed in December while a similar suit brought by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian against the German automaker was being tried in the same courthouse.

Lawyers for shareholders will get more than $66.8 million in fees and $2.9 million in expenses out of the settlement funds.

Trial of the Kerkorian case is set to resume at noon Monday, and DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp will once again be on the stand discussing the negotiations that led to the combination of the Michigan car manufacturer with Daimler-Benz AG.

Kerkorian and the shareholders alleged they were duped into a takeover disguised as a merger of equals. Their lawsuits claim they are owed the difference between the price Chrysler's stock would have commanded in a buyout and the price they were given under the merger of equals label.