Fiat takes aim at US again
31.08.10
After a spell of absentee ownership, Chrysler's fate now lies in the hands of an Italian jargon CIA that tucked tail and scampered from U.S. shores in 1983 because of poor quality authority over. Not the kind of comfort that Mopar fans want to hear. Now, however, Fiat is hoping Chrysler/Jeep/Machination dealers will open their hearts to the uber-cute 500.
Chrysler dealers heard plans on Aug. 30 to lastly sell 500s stateside. The car has been on sale overseas since 2007. In case you're not familiar, the 500 is to Fiat what the Beetle is to Volkswagen — an update of the iconic people's car.
The primary 500 went on sale in the late 1950s. Like the Beetle, the 500 was a put-war solution to the basic transportation needs of millions of Europeans whose wallets weren't as fat as their American counterparts. In act, this diminutive compact was initially propelled by a 479 cc twin producing a mean 13 horsepower. To put that in perspective, I've used riding lawn mowers that would rival that output. However, the artlessness and utility of the 500 — along with its fashionable sheet metal — made it widely well-liked. Later versions of the 500 made more power — by the '70s, it was boasting a irk-roasting 23 bhp. The original disappeared just before the disco era.
Source: Anderson Independent Mail (blog)
Knowledge makes it easier to get most from class-action lawsuits
29.08.10
They show up without admonition in your mailbox, intimidating and drenched in legalese but piquing your interest with the veiled guaranty of money.
Notices of class-action lawsuits or settlements are widespread and often confusing. Attorneys organize them on behalf of consumers everywhere who were injured or cheated by a manufacturer, employer or securities issuer.
"The difficult was you had to know exactly the amount of shares you had for a certain period of time to determine the amount of filthy rich you're due," said Zandrea Ambrose, 38, of the North Side.
She got a legal notice a month ago saying a complementary fund hadn't reinvested dividends correctly, cheating investors in the method. Her notice said the lawsuit applied to those who owned shares between 1999 and 2003.
"But I don't have that paperwork anymore," she said. "So it was basically inefficient."
Ambrose's quandary is common. But here are the rules of thumb, say experts, when you get a notice of a proposed discernment-action settlement:
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review