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Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, May 9, 2000
Hawaii lemon law gains more power
Hawaii's "lemon law" for automobiles gained significant strength under a bill passed by the just-ended 2000 Legislature and signed by Gov. Ben Cayetano, a state official says. The law requires car dealers to pay off consumers when the new cars they bought have flaws that can't be fixed under warranty. Jo Ann Uchida, complaints and enforcement officer of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, said that under the new changes dealers now also must repay finance and interest charges, which in the past often exceeded the amount of principal refunded by the dealers. Uchida said consumers should be able to get back into the financial position they had before they bought the cars.
Report: FCC to OK Bell-GTE merger
Bell Atlantic Corp.'s proposed acquisition of GTE Corp., parent of Hawaiian Tel and other regional telephone companies across the country, has won the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected to give its formal approval by mid-June, the Washington Post reported today. The $83 billion merger, first announced almost two years ago, will create the largest local telephone company in the nation, with more than 64 million lines in 31 states. The new firm will be called Verizon Communications Inc. Hawaiian Tel officials have said the merger won't affect service in Hawaii.
In other news . . .
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco Systems Inc. said after the market closed today that fiscal third-quarter net income rose 4.1 percent. Revenue climbed 55 percent on sales to telecommunications companies. Net income rose to $662 million, or 9 cents a share, from $636 million, or 9 cents, a year ago. Excluding acquisition and stock-option costs and investment gains, profit rose to $1.03 billion, or 14 cents, from $649 million, or 9 cents. Analysts had forecast 13 cents.