AUTOS

ADP to Pay Record Fine to Settle FTC Charge: Automatic Data Processing Inc. agreed to pay the $2.97-million civil penalty to settle charges that it failed to tell federal antitrust regulators that its April 1995 acquisition of AutoInfo Inc. could, in effect, create a monopoly for information services to the automobile salvage industry. The fine is the largest ever imposed for this type of document-filing infraction. The Federal Trade Commission charged that Roseland, N.J.-based ADP had access to economic studies showing that its acquisition could hurt competition for salvage yard computer systems but failed to include that information in a pre-merger review filing. Richard Haviland, ADP’s corporate controller, said the company has corrected the mistakes that led to the penalty.