New York judge halts request in Avianca Airlines shareholder spat

A judge has frozen an information request by Avianca Airlines' No. 2 shareholder, ruling against one piece of its push to stop negotiations by top shareholder Synergy Group with United Continental. The judge denied the discovery request by Kingsland Holdings in its push to have talks between Avianca and United halted. Kingsland had previously said it wanted all proceedings stopped until shareholders vote on whether to appoint an auditor to examine transactions between the airline and its controlling shareholder. Singh ruled that Kingsland had "failed to show the imminent harm it may incur should expedited discovery be denied." <br/>