BRIEFCASE CLASS-ACTION OK'D FOR MERGER SUITS.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

DETROIT - A Delaware judge has approved class-action status for lawsuits against DaimlerChrysler AG, brought by shareholders including billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, over the 1998 Daimler-Benz/Chrysler merger.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr.'s decision Wednesday consolidates some of the claims. Kerkorian, whose Tracinda Corp. once held 14 percent of the former Chrysler Corp.'s stock, says shareholders were duped into approving the deal.

DaimlerChrysler issued a statement saying the ruling on the class certification motion was ``routine and not unexpected.'' The company said its motions for dismissal have merit and likely will be addressed by the court.

Cover-up charged in heart devices

SAN FRANCISCO - Federal prosecutors charged a manufacturer of heart surgery devices with covering up malfunctions that may have led to 12 deaths and many other complications, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.

Endovascular Technologies of Menlo Park, a subsidiary of Indianapolis- based Guidant Corp., makes the Ancure device used during operations to treat heart aneurysms. The Food and Drug Administration approved the device in 1999.

The device, inserted through the groin, was designed to let doctors operate on the heart without opening the chest.

But according to court documents unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors said the device often malfunctioned and the company asked doctors to use it in ways not approved by the government.

Best Buy Co. sues Visa, Mastercard

MINNEAPOLIS - Best Buy Co. is suing Visa and Mastercard for violating antitrust and unfair business practices laws regarding plastic card payments.

Best Buy officials contend Visa and MasterCard's rules unfairly force the company to accept their check cards and prepaid cards if it also chooses to accept their credit cards. The company claims that system forces it to pay high prices for taking check and prepaid cards and harms competition.

Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay $3 billion to thousands of retailers to settle a 1996 lawsuit that accused the credit card companies of abusing their market power in charging high merchant fees. But Best Buy and a handful of other retailers opted out of that class-action lawsuit to pursue their own claims.

Visa and MasterCard officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Philly exchange receives a rebuff

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, seeking strength through consolidation, got a rebuff Thursday from one potential merger partner.

The Pacific Exchange in San Francisco said it saw no benefit in talks with the Philadelphia exchange, which had suggested combining options trading programs, and which is considering changing its own organizational structure to make it easier to seek merger partners or investors.

Philadelphia is the fourth-largest of five options exchanges in the United States, with an 11 percent market share in options trading.

3 airlines starting market alliance

EAGAN, Minn. - Northwest, Continental and Delta airlines plan to begin the first phase of their marketing alliance next week.

Under the alliance starting Wednesday, passengers flying on any flights operated by the three airlines worldwide will be able to earn frequent flyer credits on any of the carriers. Members of the three airlines' lounge clubs also will enjoy reciprocal benefits.

Although customers will be able to accrue frequent flyer miles, they won't be able to redeem those miles on the other carriers until later this year. No date has been set for implementing that phase of the alliance.

EchoStar ordered to alter content

LITTLETON, Colo. - A federal judge has ordered satellite broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp. to stop providing local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox channels to certain customers in other cities.

The networks had argued that EchoStar engaged in copyright infringement by broadcasting programming from affiliates outside a customer's viewing area. U.S. District Court Judge William Dimitrouleas of Miami agreed, but issued a mixed ruling Wednesday that both sides called a partial victory.

Under the ruling, EchoStar can keep sending programming from distant network affiliates to qualifying customers who receive no local signals. Customers who receive local channels via satellite also are unaffected.

The company said it planned to appeal parts of the ruling.

Officials at the National Association of Broadcasters hailed the ruling.