DieHard defective battery scandal

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

List members who have owned DieHard batteries between 1994 and 1997 might
be interested in yesterday's court action results. I don't know of any
specific arrangements yet to compensate buyers of the defective DieHards,
but certainly that has to happen.

Recounting the court findings: Two former top executives of battery
manufacturer Exide Technologies were convicted yesterday in East St. Louis,
Illinois, of scheming to sell defective batteries to thousands of consumers
during the 1990's. Sentencing is scheduled for next month. These guys were
Exide president and vice-president level executives.

They bribed a Sears Roebuck official in 1994 to contract for thousands of
defective DieHards, which were sold nationwide until Sears broke ties with
the company in 1997.

Exide Illinois agreed to a plea bargain with a 27.5 million dollar fine.
Exide Technologies filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few months
ago, in April. Sears has agreed to a 62.6 million dollars settlement in the
case.

You and I may have some recourse eventually if you used such batteries and
had problems.

Doyt Echelberger
87 5ktq   former DieHard owner of auto and RV batteries