BUSINESS BRIEF

Settlement approved 
in Pilot Flying J case

11/25/2013

LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge in Arkansas approved a settlement Friday that pays $84.9 million to 5,500 trucking companies who were cheated out of promised rebates by Pilot Flying J, the nation’s largest diesel retailer.

The settlement doesn’t put to rest a federal investigation in which seven company employees have already entered guilty pleas.

Attorney Aubrey Harwell, Jr., of Nashville said Jimmy Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns and CEO of the truck stop chain, had no knowledge that employees were cheating customers. The company is co-owned by Mr. Haslam’s brother, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who has said he isn’t involved with its operations.