Kerkorian Files $8 Billion Suit Against DaimlerChrysler.(Brief Article)

Billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian on urged a U.S. court to hear his $8 billion lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler AG, accusing the German-American automaker of trying to "rewrite history" in its efforts to dismiss his suit.

In motions filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, Kerkorian's lawyers stuck by their accusations that DaimlerChrysler Chairman Juergen Schrempp misled Chrysler Corp. shareholders when he billed the 1998 deal a "merger of equals." They also argued that his lawsuit should continue. DaimlerChrysler's arguments "do no more than attempt to rewrite history, try to convince the Court that Schrempp did not actually say what he said, and try to argue that a 'merger of equals' means 'takeover,'" the motion said.

The judge handling the case was expected to rule on the motion in August. Kerkorian, once DaimlerChrysler's third largest shareholder, filed the lawsuit in November, weeks after Schrempp suggested in an interview that the 1998 deal between Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler was actually a takeover that had to be billed as a "merger of equals" for "psychological reasons."

The lawsuit also followed a change of management at Chrysler, steep losses at the American unit and a dive in DaimlerChrysler's share price.

The automaker had filed a motion to dismiss Kerkorian's lawsuits and others filed by former Chrysler shareholders in May, saying they were without merit and had not identified "a single actionable false statement". In a statement, DaimlerChrysler said Kerkorian's filings fail to address "fatal deficiencies" in his lawsuit -- that Kerkorian's representatives on the boards approved the details of the merger and management's actions since then. Kerkorian's case and the other shareholder lawsuits "are meritless and deserved to be dismissed," DaimlerChrysler said.

Kerkorian seeks $2 billion in actual damages and $6 billion in punitive damages.

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