DETROIT -- One side calls it a merger of equals, a transatlantic union that created a global automotive giant.

The other claims the deal was a veiled takeover, orchestrated to bilk shareholders out of billions of dollars in compensation.

A three-year battle between billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. and German-American auto maker DaimlerChrysler AG is scheduled to come to a head today in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del.

Barring a last-minute settlement or delay, the trial will feature testimony from the reclusive Mr. Kerkorian and top executives of DaimlerChrysler, including chairman Juergen Schrempp.

Also set to testify is former Chrysler Corp. chairman Robert Eaton, a central figure in the deal's negotiations. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Mr. Kerkorian sued DaimlerChrysler in 2000 after the London-based Financial Times quoted Mr. Schrempp as saying he never meant for the 1998 merger to be one of equals, and that the deal was billed that way "for psychological reasons."

Chrysler shareholders, including Mr. Kerkorian, claim they were duped into approving the so-called merger when in reality Daimler-Benz was acquiring Chrysler.

Mr. Kerkorian, whose Las Vegas-based Tracinda investment arm once held 14 per cent of Chrysler's stock, says Mr. Schrempp, then the Daimler-Benz chairman, and other company officials misled shareholders to cheat them out of an acquisition fee that would have been due had Chrysler been purchased.

Some observers have estimated a judgment for Mr. Kerkorian could be as high as $4-billion (U.S.).

Gerald Meyers, former chairman of American Motors and now a faculty member at the University of Michigan, said Mr. Kerkorian has a chance to enrich himself further while showing he's "dedicated to the proposition that shareholders should be treated better."

At the same time, Mr. Schrempp and DaimlerChrysler must try to show that Mr. Kerkorian's claims result from a misinterpretation by shareholders of a complicated business deal, Prof. Meyers said.

DaimlerChrysler has stated Mr. Kerkorian not only approved of the acquisition but pushed for its completion, and that a Tracinda executive sat on Chrysler's board during the process.

Key to the case, Prof. Meyers said, are Mr. Schrempp's comments to the Financial Times.

"Deep down I think he didn't mean to get caught, but he got caught," Prof. Meyers said. "He got caught saying something that either wasn't true or it was true and he shouldn't have said it."

Last week, U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan rejected DaimlerChrysler's final attempts to have the case dismissed, saying evidence suggests the deal was a covert takeover from the outset.

"Tracinda's evidence demonstrates that defendants mounted a full-scale communications campaign aimed at concealing their intent to take control of Chrysler and pressing the 'merger of equals' concept," Judge Farnan, who will preside over the trial, said in a ruling.

Earlier this year, in another ruling, Judge Farnan said there was no merit to DaimlerChrysler's claim that numerous newspaper and magazine articles were among "storm warnings" that the deal was not a merger of equals.

Judge Farnan ruled the auto maker did not establish that information available to shareholders was "sufficient as a matter of law to alert a reasonable investor to the possibility of fraud."

"Even if these articles were grounded in more than mere media speculation, they were substantially offset by other public reports and articles and by defendants' assurances . . . the merger was an equal combination of the two companies," the ruling said.

Also this month, Judge Farnan ruled that he, rather than a jury, will decide the case.

DaimlerChrysler lawyer Michael Schell has said the ruling for a bench trial is a victory for the company because it upholds an agreement made between the two sides when the deal was sealed in 1998.