Farmers Insurance to settle suit over repairs

Farmers Insurance Co. has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it required use of substandard metal replacement parts for crash repairs.

The insurer has agreed to pay claimants $20 to $40 for each substandard part used in repairing their vehicles. Farmers also will pay $17 million to the law firms that handled the case.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court in 2000, covers Farmers clients who had vehicles repaired from June 15,1996, to Nov. 1, 2006.

-- John O’Dell

* Ford Motor Co. reached a final agreement for $23.5 billion in new financing to help fund operations as the company bleeds cash. The debt includes a $7-billion term loan, $4.95 billion in notes convertible to shares and a credit line of about $11.5 billion.