Tentative Accord in Carl Karcher Inside Trading Case Told

A tentative agreement was reached today in the insider-trading case against Carl N. Karcher, the founder of the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain, and six of his family members.

Defense attorneys and lawyers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed the lawsuit, emerged from more than two hours of private meetings with the judge and said they had achieved the tentative settlement.

They said at least one “very significant hurdle” remained on the defense’s side before the proposed agreement could be submitted for approval by various parties, including the five SEC commissioners and the defendants themselves.

“We both have hurdles to jump over, but they’re about 2 feet, 9 inches tall and we’ve got good horses,” said Wesley Howell Jr., an attorney for Karcher, 72, who founded the Anaheim-based fast-food chain.