Legal File

Settlement in CBS Suit: A federal judge approved Wednesday a $6-million settlement of a lawsuit filed by a CBS shareholder who claimed the network was mismanaged from 1983 to 1986. The lawsuit was brought in 1986 by Roger Minkoff, a real estate investor from the Virgin Islands who owns 12 CBS shares. The Nov. 28 settlement, in which the management of CBS Inc. admits no wrongdoing, will be paid by a network insurance policy. The settlement money, totaling $4.5 million, will go to the CBS treasury for an indirect benefit to shareholders. Minkoff’s attorney will receive the remaining $1.5 million, with $15,000 of that going directly to Minkoff. Among the allegations in the suit were that CBS wasted corporate assets when it bought part of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. in 1985 for $362.5 million and that it was hurt by efforts to fend off a takeover attempt by Ted Turner in 1985.