---

BACK TO TOP
|

IN HAWAII

Employee loyalty law affirmed

Hawaii's law holding that employees have a duty of loyalty that bars them from going into competition against their employers was affirmed yesterday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The court upheld U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor's ruling that employees Randell Riley and Lee Kunimitsu breached that loyalty when they set up a side business and outbid their employer, Eckard Brandes Inc., for a 1996 Hawaii County contract.

EBI, which repairs and maintains sewer pipes and related structures, employed Riley as a superintendent and Kunimitsu as a laborer. The company fired the two men after learning they were sole partners of Kamaaina Pumping, which had won the contract.

The case began when Riley and Kunimitsu filed in state court for overtime pay and EBI filed a counter claim in federal court for breach of the duty of loyalty.

Gillmor granted summary judgment for EBI on the overtime claim and the duty of loyalty claim and ordered that Riley and Kunimitsu's profits go to EBI and that they pay the company's legal costs.

Segway fleet to cruise Waikiki

Segways are spreading. From Ko Olina to downtown Honolulu and Kailua, the gyroscopically stabilized personal transportation devices are available for rental starting today in Waikiki.

Entrepreneur Jim Rautio established Segway Experience of Honolulu and set up shop fronting the ANA Building at 2155 Kalakaua Ave. To rent one of the company's fleet of 10 Segway Human Transporters a customer must undergo a brief training course for $20. Rentals are then available for 30 minutes at $30 or $45 for an hour. Rautio was still devising a half-day rate and the company will offer guided tours of Waikiki for small groups of riders, according to publicist Jim Boersema. Rentals will only be offered during daylight hours to customers 18 and older.

"Segways are beginning to catch on all across the country," Rautio said in a statement. "People are finding they are safe, easy to operate and affordable to own." Reservations can be made at 394-5433.

ELSEWHERE

Japan airlines ask for loans

TOKYO >> Japan's top carriers, Japan Airlines System Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., are asking for emergency loans from a government-run bank to help them through drops in travel in the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak in Asia.

The companies and the Development Bank of Japan said today the amount of the aid package was undecided. The bank said loans with lower-than-usual interest rates are being considered.

Japan Airlines System spokeswoman Yoshie Ohtaka said the scale of the loans is likely to be similar to those received following the terrorist attacks in the United States in Sept. 11, 2001, which slashed airline revenue and sent international travel plunging. The bank then extended $2 billion in emergency aid to Japanese airlines.

AOL Time Warner may drop 'AOL'

NEW YORK >> America Online is asking AOL Time Warner Inc. to drop "AOL" from its name, concerned that negative publicity about the parent company is hurting the online service's efforts to right itself.

Jonathan Miller, chief executive of America Online, told his staff in an e-mail yesterday that "AOL" the online service was becoming confused with "AOL" as shorthand for the world's largest media company.

"I believe it's time for us to get our brand back," Miller said in his note. "Any controversy or criticism involving the corporate entity has actually hit our consumer brand."

Morgan Stanley pushed own funds, state says

BOSTON >> Morgan Stanley set up elaborate contests and incentives that encouraged its offices in the Northeast to push customers to buy the company's own mutual funds, and failed to disclose those measures to investors, Massachusetts authorities alleged yesterday.

Secretary of State William Galvin, whose office filed the complaint, said the improperly disclosed sales brought the firm between $5 million and $8 million in commissions on mutual fund sales that likely amounted to tens of millions of dollars.

MetLife lowers earnings numbers

NEW YORK >> MetLife Inc. lowered its previously reported second quarter earnings by $31 million yesterday because of improperly deferred expenses at its New England Financial affiliate, and said the president of the division had left the company.

The New York-based life insurer said adjusted net income comes to $580 million, or 79 cents a share, rather than $611 million, or 84 cents a share, as reported last week. The company earned $387 million, or 53 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

MetLife said Thom Faria, president of New England Financial, has left the company and will be succeeded by Eileen McDonnell, now senior vice president for individual insurance business development. The company also said three other employees were fired, related to the improperly deferred expenses.

In other news ...

>> Global airline passenger traffic will stabilize this year before rebounding 4.4 percent next year and 6.3 percent in 2005, according to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization.

>> The United States lodged an appeal yesterday with the World Trade Organization over a ruling that its tariffs on steel imports violate global trade laws, just hours before a meeting to adopt the ruling.