Judge Rules on BAT Motions: U.S. District...

Judge Rules on BAT Motions: U.S. District Judge Walter Smith denied two opposing motions arising from European financier Sir James Goldsmith’s $21-billion takeover bid for the British conglomerate BAT Industries. Smith denied a motion by BAT’s insurance company, Los Angeles-based Farmers Group Inc., to dismiss a suit by Goldsmith’s Hoylake Investments Ltd. Farmers is one of the largest U.S. insurance companies whose member companies do business in Texas. The Hoylake suit challenged the Texas insurance commissioner’s right to review its bid, but Judge Smith, in his other ruling, denied its motion for a preliminary injunction against the commissioner’s proposed review.