Kerkorian-Daimler Court Battle to Resume

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s court battle with DaimlerChrysler will resume today.

DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp and former Chrysler President Thomas Stallkamp are among those scheduled to testify. Both witnesses already have testified once in the trial but are being recalled for further questioning at Kerkorian’s request.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan Jr. temporarily halted the trial in December after DaimlerChrysler suddenly produced 67 pages of handwritten notes from Gary Valade, Chrysler’s former chief financial officer.

Kerkorian’s attorneys asked Farnan to end the trial and rule in their favor, but Farnan decided to resume the trial after a court investigation found a copying error was to blame and that DaimlerChrysler didn’t act in bad faith.

Kerkorian is suing DaimlerChrysler for more than $1 billion. He says Daimler-Benz engineered a takeover of Chrysler Corp., then cheated him out of an acquisition fee by claiming that it was a merger. DaimlerChrysler insists that the merger was one of equals.