Briefcase

Upscale Home Furnishings closes

Joel Ferris III, owner of Upscale Home Furnishings at 2510 N. Monroe St., has closed the Spokane business and said customers who provided consignment furniture will have the items returned in several weeks.

Ferris started the all-consignment furniture store in 2006. His family owned and operated popular downtown décor and furniture retailer Joel Inc. It had four employees, Joel said.

The business has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Eastern Washington.

Tom Sowa

Oregon sues company over Motrin recall

SALEM – Oregon Attorney General John Kroger has sued Johnson & Johnson and two subsidiaries, claiming consumers were exposed to defective supplies of Motrin by a delay in public disclosure of a recall.

Kroger said Wednesday the health care products companies tried to quietly remove Motrin from store shelves in a “phantom recall” without telling consumers. The action has been the subject of a congressional investigation.

The attorney general said Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries discovered in late 2008 that supplies of Motrin sold in 8- and 24-caplet containers failed to dissolve properly. As a result, consumers might not receive the expected dose of ibuprofen, which could lead to “a worsening of pain, fever or inflammation.”

Associated Press

AIG planning to issue millions of warrants

NEW YORK – American International Group Inc. said Wednesday it is moving forward with its plan to distribute 75 million warrants to allow current shareholders to buy AIG stock at a discounted price, part of the insurance giant’s plan to repay taxpayer aid and free itself from U.S. government ownership.

The company, which received the largest amount of help from the government during the financial crisis, said it is free to issue the warrants now that the Federal Bank of New York and the Treasury Department have agreed to allow it to complete a recapitalization plan.

AIG expects to fully repay the roughly $25 billion in outstanding aid it owes to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It will also swap common stock for the $49.1 billion in preferred shares that Treasury currently holds.

New York-based AIG will distribute the warrants on Jan. 19. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of AIG common stock for $45, a 26 percent discount to the $61 that the stock was trading at Jan. 7, when the distribution was announced.

The stock closed Wednesday trading at $58.40, about double its price a year ago.

Associated Press

Boeing 787 waiting on FAA approval of fixes

WASHINGTON – The head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division says the company hopes to announce a delivery schedule for its 787 aircraft within two weeks, but getting federal approval for fixes to the problem-plagued plane will be key.

Jim Albaugh, Boeing’s president and CEO for airplanes, said Wednesday that Boeing needs the Federal Aviation Administration “to agree to the fixes we’re going to put in place” and to restart certification test flights before the company can release a delivery schedule.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency is working with Boeing Co. on planning for a resumption of flight tests.

The 787 has suffered a string of production problems and is three years behind schedule.

Associated Press