Starwood and Hilton seek settlement

The civil case between Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Hilton Hotels could be reaching a conclusion as both sides seek a settlement, according to a report in The AM Law Litigation Daily.

Starwood's attorney, Charles Gilman of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, wrote a letter to the court indicating that the parties had been exploring the “possibility of a settlement”, a report in Hospitality Design said.

Starwood alleged that Hilton and two of its executives stole confidential information from Starwood's files to develop Hilton's new Denizen hotels, which was to compete with Starwood's W Hotels.

However, aside from the civil case is a criminal probe of Hilton, with The Wall Street Journal reporting last month that a grand jury was considering whether the hotel company and several of its former executives should face charges for the trade secrets theft.