ST. LOUIS — The North Face Apparel Corp. has settled its lawsuit against The South Butt, a Missouri teenager’s company that marketed clothing with a not-so-subtle logo and tag line that parodied the outdoor clothing giant.

Terms were not disclosed in the settlement agreement entered Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, but The South Butt was still offering its T-shirts, fleece jackets, backpacks and sweat shirts on its Web site Friday afternoon.

The South Butt was started two years ago by Jimmy Winkelmann of suburban St. Louis; he’s now a 19-year-old college freshman studying biomedical engineering at the University of Missouri.

The company sells products with the tag line, “Never Stop Relaxing,” a parody of The North Face line, “Never Stop Exploring.”

Regulators shut bank in S.C.

WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in South Carolina, marking 42 bank failures in the U.S. this year amid mounting loan defaults, especially in commercial real estate.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Beach First National Bank, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with $585.1 million in assets and $516 million in deposits.

There were 140 bank failures in the U.S. last year, the most since 1992 at the height of the savings and loan crisis.

California gets Toyota lawsuits

MIAMI — A federal judge in Southern California was chosen Friday to preside over more than 200 lawsuits filed against Toyota in the aftermath of the automaker’s sudden acceleration problems, which could mushroom into one of the nation’s biggest product liability cases.

A judicial panel consolidated the ever-growing list of cases before U.S. Dist. Judge James V. Selna, 65, a 2003 appointee of President George W. Bush. Selna’s court is in Orange County, Calif., near Los Angeles and close to Toyota’s U.S. headquarters.

Attorneys estimate that if Toyota were to settle the cases for even a modest payout to affected motorists, it could cost the company at least $3 billion and possibly much more.

Caterpillar CEO earnings fall

OMAHA, Neb. — The Associated Press has found that Caterpillar Inc. last year gave chairman and CEO Jim Owens less than half the compensation he received in 2008 as the world’s biggest maker of mining and construction equipment endured the recession and eliminated thousands of jobs.

Owens received compensation worth $6.8 million in 2009 — 54 percent less than 2008′s $14.6 million.

Ex-Hartford CEO received $4.8M

BOSTON — Ramani Ayer received compensation valued at nearly $4.8 million in his final 10 months as chairman and CEO of Hartford Financial Services Group, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing.

Liam McGee, who took over when Ayer retired at the end of October, received $341,654 for leading the life insurance and financial services company over the final two months of 2009.

Ayer’s 2009 compensation for the last 10 months of his 12-year tenure as CEO was down nearly 35 percent from a full-year total of nearly $7.3 million in 2008.

School cuts ties with Nike

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin canceled its licensing agreement with Nike on Friday, becoming the first university to take that step over concerns about the company’s treatment of workers in Honduras.

Chancellor Biddy Martin said Nike hasn’t done enough to help workers at two closed factories collect severance payments they are owed.

Nike did not return messages seeking comment.

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