Berkshire can't use bribery allegations against Haslam in Pilot truck stop chain accounting dispute

abcnews.go.com:

A Delaware judge says Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will not be allowed to use allegations that billionaire Jimmy Haslam tried to bribe employees at the Pilot truck stop chain as Berkshire defends itself in a trial over Pilot’s accounting practices

DOVER, Del. — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will not be allowed to use allegations that billionaire Jimmy Haslam tried to bribe employees at the Pilot truck stop chain to inflate the company’s value as Berkshire defends itself in a dispute over the company’s accounting practices, a Delaware judge said Wednesday.

The ruling came in a lawsuit in which Pilot Corp. claims that Berkshire Hathaway, which holds 80% of Pilot Travel Centers, has used accounting changes to try to artificially depress the price Berkshire would have to pay for the Haslam family’s remaining 20% stake in the truck-stop chain.

Berkshire responded to the lawsuit by claiming that Jimmy Haslam, the owner of the Cleveland Browns, tried to bribe more than two dozen Pilot employees to get them to inflate the company’s profits this year. Berkshire alleges that Haslam wanted to artificially inflate profits so Berkshire would have to pay more for the remaining stake in Pilot held by the Haslam family, which also includes former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.

Following a hearing Wednesday, Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn ruled that Berkshire could not use the bribery allegations as part of an “unclean hands” defense at an expedited trial next month. She also said any related depositions would not be allowed, noting that the bribery allegations do not have an “immediate and proper nexus” to Pilot’s underlying claims.

While granting Pilot’s motions to restrict Berkshire’s defenses, Zurn also indicated that she may