St. Clair County Circuit Judge Robert LeChien agreed on Nov. 9 to substitute attorney Jeffrey Millar's former law firm, Brent Coon & Associates, with his new employer Saville and Flint of Glen Carbon, in a proposed class action against Redbox DVD rental kiosks.

Millar, who used to be employed by the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River (now LakinChapman) before he left to join Coon's firm, is among a group of lawyers that represents Redbox lead plaintiff Laurie Piechur.

Piechur proposes to lead a class of DVD renters who claim that Redbox Automated Retail Inc. charged inappropriate late charges to customers using its kiosks.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $350,000, costs and other relief.

If certified, Piechur's suit would be a nationwide class action.

Redbox denies the claims in the suit.

The company has tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed.

The last filing in the case was a move by Redbox asking to be allowed to file additional defenses based on information gathered in the suit's ongoing discovery.

That motion was filed in September.

A move by the owner of Blockbuster Video, a third party in the suit's discovery, is also moving to quash Piechur's discovery requests.

Eric Brandfonbrener of Perkins Coie of Chicago and Robert Sprague represent Redbox.

Millar, Thomas Maag and others represent Piechur and the proposed class.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Patrick Young presides until his retirement Nov. 30.

The new Basel III banking rules will leave the biggest U.S. banks short of between $100 billion and $150 billion in equity capital, with 90 per cent of the shortfall concentrated in the top six banks, the Financial Times said, citing research from Barclays Capital.

The newspaper said the study by the investment banking arm of Barclays Plc (LSE:BARC.L - News) assumes the banks will need to hold top quality capital equal to 8 percent of their total assets -- a one point cushion against falling below the effective global minimum of 7 percent set in September by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

The regulations mean banks may need to increase their capital through retained earnings or issuing equity or they can cut their risk-weighted assets by selling off assets and cutting back riskier business.

"These shortfalls are entirely manageable ... The more difficult question is what affect the new rules will have on the cost and availability of credit and bank profitability," the FT quoted Tom McGuire, head of the Capital Advisory Group at BarCap, as saying.

Dynegy's board has accepted a sweetened $603 million takeover bid by Blackstone Group LP but the deal still faces opposition from a prominent shareholder.

The private equity group on Tuesday increased its offer for the Houston power plant owner by 11 percent to $5 per share.

Shareholders vote on the deal later Wednesday and approval is far from certain. Financier Carl Icahn said Tuesday he would oppose the increased offer, saying it still undervalues the company. Icahn owns a nearly 13 percent stake in Dynegy.

Icahn also said the takeover agreement discouraged other bidders from submitting competing offers. Dynegy has agreed to pay Blackstone a $16.3 million breakup fee if the deal isn't approved.

The shareholder vote is expected later Wednesday in Houston.

Just a day before its historic return to the New York Stock Exchange, General Motors confirmed Wednesday that it would expand its initial public offering of common shares by 31 percent.

The company, responding to superheated investor demand for its stock, said it will raise the size of its IPO to 478 million common shares from the previously announced 365 million. Most of the common stock will be sold by the U.S. government, which is trying to unload what is now a 61 percent stake in the country's largest automaker.

The IPO, scheduled for Thursday, will cap a stunning resurrection for an automaker that nearly ran out of cash in 2008 and lost more than $80 billion in the four years leading up to its bankruptcy filing last year.

"This is, in my knowledge, one of the most remarkable turnarounds in corporate history," said Anant Sundaram, a finance professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business.

The impasse between Cablevision and Fox over retransmission consent was bound to produce a class-action lawsuit.

A group of New York customers filed one Thursday in federal court in New York, arguing that the cable company has an obligation to give its customers rebates for depriving them of Fox News, Glee, House, The Simpsons, New York Giants football, the Major League Baseball postseason and other content.

The plaintiffs are asking for about $450 million in damages, which is about the equivalent of one month's cable bill for the company's 3 million subscribers. Here's the complaint.

This isn't the first time that Cablevision has faced a class action after channels were pulled. A suit was filed this year after HGTV and Food Network were removed from the dial, but it went nowhere because Cablevision soon came to an agreement that restored service.

In that lawsuit, plaintiffs argued that Cablevision had breached its contract with customers by making a "material change" of its service.