1.   City officials denied any retaliation but said they approved the settlement because they feared higher costs from a protracted legal battle.

2.   The City bought the property under eminent domain proceedings after a protracted battle with the owner.

3.   The couple have been involved in a protracted battle for custody of their children.

4.   An agreement could avert the kind of protracted battle that took place more than a decade ago over the rival VHS and Beta formats for video cassettes and players.

5.   And the protracted legal battles have made it smaller.

6.   Because the BSE incubation period can be several years, we must consider that a protracted BSE battle has just begun.

7.   A national firm specializing in outplacement of employees agrees that a protracted battle would create an atmosphere of uncertainty at Microsoft that could hurt the company.

8.   A protracted legal battle could follow.

9.   After fighting a protracted regulatory battle to get its merger with Pacific Telesis approved, the company has moved swiftly to integrate the operations of its partner.

10.   After a protracted battle that included street demonstrations, lawsuits and a boycott of fund drives, the dissident faction prevailed.