DETROIT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A federal judge will allow lawyers for billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian to broadly question DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp when the lawsuit over the merger that formed DaimlerChrysler resumes.
The trial was halted last month after DaimlerChrysler's attorneys discovered a set of notes taken by Chrysler's former chief financial officer during merger talks that were never shared with Kerkorian's attorneys.
Kerkorian claims Schrempp and Daimler-Benz AG lied to Chrysler investors about the nature of the $36 billion deal that created the world's fifth-largest automaker. In December, Schrempp defended what he has long billed as a "merger of equals" during three days of testimony.
But attorneys for Tracinda, Kerkorian's investment firm, said the documents put the testimony of all previous witnesses in the fraud trial in a different light. DaimlerChrysler attorneys said Schrempp was willing to testify again, but wanted some limits on the time allotted for questions.
"It seems to me, in the circumstances we find ourselves, that I come down on the side of Tracinda," U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan said in a teleconference with attorneys on Friday.
Farnan did warn Tracinda's attorneys there was "no need to reinforce points that have already been testified about."
Farnan said he expected to finish the trial in two to three days once it resumed. He offered two possible dates for restarting the trial, either Feb. 9 or March 11, and the attorneys said they would express a preference later.
Kerkorian, a reclusive Las Vegas casino mogul who owned nearly 14 percent of Chrysler's shares before the Daimler- Chrysler tie-up, claims Schrempp and other executives pitched the 1998 deal as a merger rather than a takeover to lower the transaction price and avoid paying Chrysler shareholders a "control premium" for their shares. He is seeking more than $1 billion in damages.