“THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX IS SETTLED”

Can it really, truly, be over? That's the word from Gainesville, Florida, where Anheuser-Busch and Maris Distributing reached a settlement just as the jurors were deliberating on the defamation case Maris brought against A-B, ending eight years of litigation. The settlement terms were not disclosed, but it encompasses not just the most recent defamation case where Maris was seeking $5 billion in damages, but also the $50 million jury award that the Marises had won in 2001 and was to