In re BankAmerica Securities Class Action Now children, of course I did not sue the big bad banking people all on my ownsome! No indeed! I sued as part of a big class and out of a whopping settlement of $490 million dollars, I am going to get $16 plus or minus a few pennies. Sometime in the next, say, 12 months. Wow, that’ll help when the unemployment runs out. Actually I did not even know I was suing but lawyers, led by the firm of Abbey Gardy, LLP of New York City, sued on behalf of me (with a big 100 shares of BankAmerica stock) and other stockholders regarding some problems with the merger between BankAmerica and NationsBank back in September, 1998, that resulted in today’s Bank of America. My settlement would be worth about 22 cents/share but the lawyers seem to think their effort is worth $39 million.
I read through the entire eight pages of lawyerly gobbledegook and there is not even one sentence of explanation of what the companies and directors did wrong that entitles me to this money. However, the litigation website reprints an article from Securities Class Action Alert which explains that the “suit had alleged that BankAmerica falsely reassured investors about the strength of the bank’s operation, but hid the huge international loan losses that the bank had suffered and deliberately underestimated the liability exposure incurred as a result of loans to the investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co. These misstatements were an effort to ensure the completion of the merger with NationsBank.” This also turns out to be the second largest shareholder settlement ever, surpassed only by the $3.2 billion paid by Cendant Corp. And I get a whopping big $16. After paying $75.62 per share in May, 1998, and selling it in November, 2001, for $63.00 for a net loss of, let’s see, $1262 – $16 leaves $1246. Aren’t you impressed with the terrific lawyering, children?
BillSaysThis 