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DaimlerChrysler urges dismissal of Kerkorian suit

DETROIT, April 23 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler on Friday urged a U.S. court to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, saying it was "cynical and opportunistic" and had no merits.

Trial proceedings in the case brought against the German-American automaker by Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. investment arm ended in February in U.S. District Court in Delaware. But DaimlerChrysler called for dismissal in papers filed with the court on Friday.

"Kerkorian simply made it up as he went along," the company said of Kerkorian's courtroom testimony.

"In contrast to Tracinda's failure to prove even the most basic allegations in its complaint, defendants presented witness after witness eloquently demonstrating that the facts and law require dismissal of this fabricated 'case'."

Kerkorian was Chrysler's largest shareholder in 1998, when Germany's Daimler-Benz joined with America's Chrysler to form the world's fifth-largest automaker. The Las Vegas casino mogul alleges DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp only pitched the deal as a so-called "merger of equals" rather than a takeover to lower the transaction price and avoid paying investors a "control premium."

Kerkorian's suit was sparked by comments Schrempp made to The Financial Times in October 2000, when he said he always intended to make Chrysler a "division" of DaimlerChrysler.

"After 13 days of trial, Tracinda proved but one thing -- it has no case," DaimlerChrysler said, in a statement summarizing its submission to the court.

"Fundamentally, Tracinda's case was just made up by lawyers seeking to serve a billionaire investor still smarting from the rejection of his ill-conceived, unfinanced and failed takeover of Chrysler in 1995," the company said.

"They seized on the Financial Times article ... as the opportunistic pretext for the lawsuit their client was demanding. Kerkorian, who enjoyed billions of dollars in profits from his investments in Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler, does not deserve a penny for his cynical and opportunistic claim," the company said.

Spokesmen for Tracinda could not be reached for immediate comment but Kerkorian's lawyers were also due to file post-trial briefings late on Friday.

Kerkorian is seeking more than $1 billion damages and Judge Joseph Farnan, who tried the case without a jury, is not expected to rule for at least several months.