FRA Certification Helpline: (216) 694-0240

(The Associated Press circulated the following on June 2, 2009.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Railroad operator Kansas City Southern says it will have to pay an estimated $8 million to a Mexican accounting firm.

The company, which operates trains in Mexico, said Monday that a Mexican appellate court last month sided with Mancera Ernst & Young S.C. of Mexico City in a dispute between the companies over fees. Mancera assisted Kansas City Southern in a tax dispute with the Mexican government that was settled in 2005.

Kansas City Southern said it hasn’t determined how much it will owe Mancera, but it estimates it will be $8 million, $3 million of which it paid in 2007 to the court.

It said it will record pretax expenses of $7 million in its fiscal second quarter to cover the remaining amount plus possible interest.