LOS ANGELES

Woman wins small-claims court case against Honda

A Southern California woman who challenged the legal status-quo by filing a small-claims action against Honda won her lawsuit Wednesday when a judge ruled that the automaker misled her about the potential fuel economy of her hybrid car.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan awarded Heather Peters $9,867 — much more than the couple hundred dollars cash that a proposed class-action settlement is offering.

“At a bare minimum Honda was aware … that by the time Peters bought her car there were problems with its living up to its advertised mileage,” Carnahan wrote in the judgment.

Peters, a former lawyer, said she is now renewing her legal license after a 10-year lapse so she can represent other Honda owners who have the same problems she did.

“Wow! Fantastic. I am absolutely thrilled,” she said when informed her of the judge’s decision. “Sometimes big justice comes in small packages. This is a victory for Honda Civic owners everywhere.” 

Creator of ‘Soul Train’ dance show kills himself, police say

Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show “Soul Train,” shot himself to death Wednesday at his home, police said. He was 75.

Officer responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m., police said.

He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 4:56 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

“Soul Train” began in Chicago as a local program in 1970 and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006. It brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

FALLS CHURCH, Va.

Obama proposes program to help homeowners

Conceding his earlier housing programs have fallen short, President Obama on Wednesday proposed a vast expansion of government assistance to homeowners, aiming to make lower lending rates a possibility for millions of borrowers who have not been able to get out from under burdensome mortgages.

The president’s proposal is laden with election-year politics and faces a difficult path in Congress. Obama wants to pay for the estimated $5 billion to $10 billion cost with a fee on the nation’s largest banks, a proposal that has failed to win support even when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

In addition, its potential impact could be limited by the fact that it would not apply to borrowers who are behind on their home loan payments, those most threatened by foreclosure.

The housing issue, while national in scope, particularly resonates in election battlegrounds such as Nevada and Florida that have faced record foreclosures. Obama himself drew attention to the politics surrounding the issue with a jab at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, now the front-runner in the Republican presidential contest. Romney in October suggested the foreclosure process should be allowed to “run its course and hit the bottom.”

Without naming Romney, Obama said: “It is wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. I refuse to accept that, and so do the American people.”

EAGAN, Minn.

Romney reasserts support for minimum wage hikes

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney renewed his support Wednesday for automatic increases in the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, a position sharply at odds with traditional GOP business allies, conservatives and the party’s senior lawmakers.

“I haven’t changed my thoughts on that,” the former Massachusetts governor told reporters aboard his chartered campaign plane, referring to a stand he has held for a decade.

He did not say if he would ask Congress to approve the change if he wins the White House this fall.

Congress first enacted federal minimum wage legislation in 1938 and has raised it sporadically in the years since.

The last increase, approved in 2007, took effect in three installments and reached $7.25 an hour for covered workers effective July 24, 2009.

It has never been allowed to rise automatically, as Romney envisions. 

— From news service reports