Biz Briefs: Judge Allows Cuban to Go After Feds; Gulfstream Breaks One Love Field Lease

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Dec. 7 2009 at 8:24 AM

Categories: Biz

Back in July, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater told the Securities and Exchange Commission that, sorry, but its complaint against Mark Cuban was getting tossed. The SEC, of course, accused the Mavs owner of violating insider-trading laws in 2004 by selling off $750,000 in Mamma.com stock; Fitzwater said Cuban never agreed to keep what he knew about the company secret. The SEC, though, filed papers in October saying it would appeal Fitzwater's dismissal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit. Meanwhile, Cuban's gone after the feds for attorneys' fees -- and Fitzwater yet again has ruled in Cuban's favor, allowing him on Friday to conduct discovery in his efforts to recoup, which should prove decidedly interesting given his allegations that the complaint is and has always been "a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion." He has till February 10. In related news (?), Cuban's hosting WWE Raw tonight at the AAC. ...

This morning, the city council's Economic Development Committee will discuss allowing Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation out of its lease at Love Field -- at least, the 6-acre parking lot near Cedar Springs Road and Tom Braniff Road, right next to and behind the Hertz Car Rental site and near Gulfstream's other rental property at Love Field. Gulfstream leased the lot expecting to build a painting facility there, but when the economy tanked, the General Dynamics subsidiary stopped making planes -- in July, "aircraft completions at Love Field down from 70 aircraft to 12," says the council briefing -- and there was no need for a separate place to paint. And so, $150,000 in economic development grant money later, Gulfstream wants to turn the spot back to the city, which hopes to use it for the Love Field Modernization Program and an expansion of car-rental sites.

What ties both stories together? This picture.

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