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BofA Near $8.5B Deal to Settle Big Investors' Claims
Legal Business |
2011/06/29 10:30
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div class=entrydiv class=articlepBank of America Corp. is close to finalizing a deal to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims by a group of investors that the bank sold them poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market tanked, according to a person familiar with the settlement talks./ppThe Charlotte, North Carolina, bank was continuing talks late Tuesday with the group, which includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco Investment Management, the world's largest bondholder, and Blackrock Financial Management. It is expected to announce an agreement as early as Wednesday, the person said on condition of anonymity because the matter was still developing./ppThe deal comes eight months after the group fired off a letter to Bank of America demanding that it repurchase $47 billion in mortgages that its Countrywide unit sold to them in the form of bonds. The investors have argued that Countrywide's practice of modifying loans found to have faulty paperwork or those written outside of normal underwriting standards breached signed agreements with the investors. By continuing to service bad loans rather than speeding up foreclosures, the group has claimed that Countrywide ran up servicing fees, enriching itself at the expense of investors. The New York Fed is involved because it took over assets held by American International Group Inc., which faltered under the weight of bad home loans that it insured./ppBank of America, which paid $4 billion for Countrywide in 2008, has dismissed suggestions that its handling of loan modifications and other efforts to prevent foreclosure have violated the terms of the mortgage-backed securities that the investors hold. In November, CEO Brian Moynihan said he was in day-to-day hand-to-hand combat with investors' demands./p/div
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Court won't revive Clemens lawsuit against trainer
Legal News Digest |
2011/06/28 22:29
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div class=entrydiv class=articlepThe Supreme Court won't revive baseball star Roger Clemens' lawsuit against his former personal trainer for claiming he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormones./ppThe high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from the seven-time Cy Young winner, who has an upcoming perjury trial in Washington./ppThe 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Clemens' defamation suit against his longtime trainer Brian McNamee, saying a Texas federal court didn't have jurisdiction over Clemens' claims involving statements McNamee made in New York./ppClemens wanted that decision overturned, but the high court refused to take up the case./ppMcNamee said in New York he had injected Clemens with steroids and HGH and repeated those allegations during an interview at his New York home to a writer for a href=http://si.com/SI.com/a./ppClemens has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, and testified in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in February 2008 that he never used drugs in his 24-year career./ppProsecutors say that was a lie and have charged him with false statements, perjury and obstruction of Congress. The former pitching star's criminal trial is expected to begin on July 6./p/div
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US top court upholds $270 million award to smokers
Headline Legal News |
2011/06/28 12:30
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div class=entrydiv class=articlepThe US Supreme Court rejected an appeal request made by American tobacco companies on Monday in a class-action lawsuit that awarded 500,000 smokers a total of $270 million in damages./ppWithout comment, the highest US court dismissed the appeal of a 2009 Louisiana court decision that ruled the tobacco companies must pay hundreds of millions for programs to help the smokers quit./ppThe tobacco companies contested the lawsuit and argued that the class-action lawsuit brought together a number of disparate and individual complaints that spanned more than 50 years./ppThey said that by allowing the class-action suit, the companies were deprived of their right to investigate the individual plaintiffs and they could not all prove that they had suffered harm./p/div
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N.Y. governor signs gay marriage into law
Legal News Digest |
2011/06/25 11:32
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed New York's gay marriage bill, starting what is expected to be a crush of gay weddings starting in 30 days.
The Democratic governor signed the measure shortly before midnight Friday, following up on a promise to put his name on the legislation as soon as he received it rather than wait the usual 10 days to sign it for it to become law.
New York lawmakers narrowly voted to legalize same-sex marriage, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay rights movement was born.
New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.
“We are leaders and we join other proud states that recognize our families and the battle will now go on in other states,” said Sen. Thomas Duane, a Democrat.
Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island. |
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Toyota class action suit to start with Utah case
Headline Legal News |
2011/06/24 22:31
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The first lawsuit to go to trial in a massive class action against Toyota Motor Corp. over acceleration problems that led the company to recall 14 million cars will involve a crash that killed two people in western Utah, a federal judge said Friday.
U.S. District Judge James Selna told attorneys the case of 38-year-old Charlene Jones Lloyd and 66-year-old Paul Van Alfen, whose Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in February 2013.
The case - Van Alfen v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. - will be the first of several bellwether lawsuits, intended to determine how the rest of the litigation will proceed.
Selna wrote in a tentative order that he hoped the selection would markedly advance these proceedings.
The Court believes that selection of a personal injury/wrongful death case is most likely the type of case to meet that goal, Selna said.
Toyota said it welcomes the Utah case as the first suit to reach court.
We are pleased that the initial bellwether will address plaintiffs' central allegation of an unnamed, unproven defect in Toyota vehicles, as every claim in the multi-district litigation rests upon this pivotal technical issue, the company said in a statement.
Toyota has previously argued the plaintiffs have been unable to prove that a design defect in its electronic throttle control system is responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly. It has instead blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. |
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