QUOTE OF THE DAY “Consumer spending will continue to be the driver of the recovery.” Tom Simons, Jefferies LLC economist Article,1DMurphy Oil lawsuit shifted to U.S. court
Murphy Oil USA Inc.’s civil suit against Enterprise Products Partners of Houston and its affiliate, Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Co., has been moved from Union County Circuit Court to U.S. District Court in El Dorado.
Enterprise requested the case be moved to federal court because it involves interstate transportation, Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said.
A 14-day restraining order, issued June 20 by a Union County circuit judge, remains in effect until further notice, Rainey said. The order was issued after Murphy Oil asked the circuit court to prohibit Enterprise from ending the delivery of diesel and aviation fuel to the state. A circuit court hearing scheduled for Thursday to address the order was canceled.
Murphy Oil claims Enterprise is in breach of a 2006 agreement to provide interstate pipeline service to the oil company.
Enterprise said it plans to stop delivering diesel and aviation fuel to Arkansas on Monday so it can reverse the flow of the pipeline and begin transporting ethane from the Northeast to Gulf Coast refineries.
Bourbon producer to expand distillery
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Liquor producer Brown-Forman Corp. says it will invest more than $35 million to expand operations at its Woodford Reserve Distillery in central Kentucky.
The Louisville-based company said Thursday it would add warehouses where the bourbon ages for several years before being bottled. The company also plans to add stills, improve its bottling line and make other upgrades to increase capacity.
The distillery near Versailles currently has 30 full-time employees, and the expansion should add another 15.
State officials say the company is in line for up to $3 million in tax incentives as part of the expansion.
McDonald’s West Bank offer rejected
A McDonald’s Corp.’s licensee in Israel rejected a proposal to open a restaurant in a mall in a West Bank settlement, sparking criticism from pro-settler groups and supermarket-chain owner Rami Levy.
The closely held company, owned by Omri Padan, declined to add a store in Ariel because it is beyond the 1967 Israeli border, Levy, who is developing the mall through a private company, said by telephone. The licensee’s representatives said in an e-mailed statement that Padan has always had a policy of remaining within that border.
The decision by Padan, a co-founder of the Israeli group Peace Now, places a brand widely seen as a symbol of American culture into one of the most contentious issues in the Jewish state. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to revive talks between Palestinians and Israelis even as Israel approved plans for 69 new housing units in an eastern section of Jerusalem.
Danya Proud, McDonald’s U.S. media-relations director, didn’t immediately return e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.
U.S. boss in China released after payout
BEIJING - A pay dispute was resolved Thursday at a medical supply factory, ending a labor standoff in which the Chinese workers detained their American boss for nearly a week inside the plant until they reached agreement on a compensation package.
Chip Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, told The Associated Press he had been forced to give in to what he called unjustified demands while he was held by about 80 workers inside the factory, an experience he described as “humiliating, embarrassing.”
The workers began blocking the exits from the plant in Huairou district on the outskirts of Beijing on June 21 after seeing equipment being packed for shipment to India and thinking the entire factory was being shut down. They said the company owed them unpaid salary.
At the start of the standoff, the workers deprived Starnes of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office, he said.
Police made no move to end the standoff but said they were guaranteeing Starnes’ safety while a labor official was brought in for negotiations.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 26 on 06/28/2013