NEW YORK – Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc. (BUD), the largest U.S. brewer, said Wednesday it agreed to pay $120 million to settle lawsuits brought by the family of former Major League Baseball star Roger Maris (search).
The brewer said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (search) that it would take a pretax charge of $105 million in the third quarter.
The Maris family, which operates Maris Distributing Co. (search) , and Anheuser-Busch brewer announced the settlement Tuesday, but did not disclose terms at the time. Jurors were deliberating when the settlement was announce, which the Maris family claimed made false statements about the family's beer distributorship.
In a related case, the family won a $50 million judgment, plus $22.6 million in interest, in 2001 after suing when Anheuser-Busch ended its deal with Maris Distributing Co. Anheuser-Busch was appealing that verdict and had not paid any money.
The settlement covers all claims made by the Maris family against Anheuser-Busch.