Refunds

Twenty-five days and 134 missed games into a labor dispute that shows no signs of a resolution, the NHL on Monday canceled four games on the schedule of each of its 26 teams. That means many clubs will be obligated to refund only minimal amounts of money immediately to ticket holders, while holding money paid for future games.

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ruben Zacarias ordered reimbursements Tuesday for five teachers who paid their own way to accompany the academic decathlon team from El Camino Real High School to Providence, R.I., where the squad won the national championship over the weekend. The school district paid for five administrators to attend the competition, using funds from private donations. But teachers who helped train the team had to pay their own travel bills.

Westminster is the latest Orange County government to receive a refund from Southern California Edison, which erroneously billed the city for electric service to street lights outside its borders, officials say. The October rebate of more than $3,000 to Westminster follows a $14,000 refund to Garden Grove and an $18,000 credit to the California Department of Transportation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must reconsider its denial of refunds to wholesale customers of Powerex Corp. and other electric companies in the Pacific Northwest during the 2000-01 California energy crisis, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. FERC must review rejected claims by cities including Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled.

Southern California property manager R.W. Selby & Co. will pay $450,000 in refunds to apartment tenants who lost their security deposits because of improper charges by the company, according to a court-approved settlement announced by state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. The attorney general's office is not sure how many tenants are affected by the agreement, because it has yet to scrutinize Selby's books to determine who should receive the refunds, said Sandra Michioku, a spokeswoman for Lockyer.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved one-time refunds for Southern California Gas customers who receive their gas directly from the utility. For a typical residential customer, the refund will be about $16 and will appear as a credit on the January bill.

Jerry Smilowitz, a consumer law specialist in the California attorney general's Los Angeles office, said a federal law enables consumers to obtain refunds for services that were paid for but not delivered. He said it was likely that those who purchased Air Hawaii tickets with credit cards could obtain full refunds. Air Hawaii has discontinued service and filed a bankruptcy petition last Friday.

The National Football League Management Council said Tuesday that it would allow ticket holders to apply for refunds during the players' strike despite the league's intentions to play games with non-striking veterans and free agents. The Management Council said: "As games are played during a strike, all ticket holders desiring refunds for those games may obtain them by personally surrendering their tickets at designated refund locations by the prior Tuesday.

More than 1.4 million federal employees and retirees on Wednesday were mailed applications for health insurance refunds totaling $270 million from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Assn. Four semi-trailers hauled the applications to the local post office, and Postmaster John R. Cochran said the mail should be delivered in the Washington area today and nationwide by Saturday.

Students who enrolled in a local fire academy that charges up to $3,000 tuition are trying to get their money back after learning that it has lost its state accreditation. About half the class of 40 or so students recently dropped out after learning that Foothill Fire Academy was no longer accredited. They say Bryan Batiste, who owns the school, knew it lacked accreditation but enrolled them anyway. Batiste said he was honest with the students from the start.