The event is flourishing, thanks to the continuing support of New Orleans businesses and the community ties forged by Zurich's chief executive, Jim Schiro, early in the sponsorship and strengthened during Zurich's swift settlement of its customers' insurance claims after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
That firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, was awarded nearly $27 million by Judge Kaplan on Thursday for winning a $512 million settlement for customers of Sotheby's and Christie's.
Jonathan K. Levine, one of the main lawyers for Providian's cardholders, said that yesterday's settlement compensated millions of customers for improper sales practices that were not included in the earlier case.
The new settlements were the largest return of customer money in the agency's history and all the investors will be made whole, the chairman of the S.E.C., Christopher Cox, said in a statement.
H & R Block's proposed settlement of lawsuits by Texas customers who say they were charged excessive interest on tax-refund loans is not in the public interest and should be rejected, the Federal Trade Commission said yesterday in court papers.
A bank that expects to make net payments to other banks during the day (for example, in settlement of checks paid by its customers to their customers) will probably call in some of its call loans, and by convention this is done before noon.
The settlement deal, struck between JPMorgan and the trustee overseeing the return of customer money, puts to rest more than a year of tough negotiations.
One possible culprit -- and something not explicitly addressed by the settlement -- was the fact that a companywide values statement clashed with reality in the area of customer service.
Knight Trading Group, the biggest matchmaker for buyers and sellers of Nasdaq stocks, yesterday reached a $79 million settlement of claims that it had overcharged customers.
Mr. Taubman stepped down as Sotheby's chairman (he is still the company's controlling shareholder), Sotheby's pleaded guilty to antitrust violations and paid a $45 million criminal fine, and both auction houses together paid aggrieved customers a civil settlement of more than $512 million.
