In re Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation

We secured a $275 million settlement with Bear Stearns Companies, plus a $19.9 million settlement with Deloitte & Touche LLP, Bear Stearns' outside auditor.

On November 9, 2012, the Honorable Robert W. Sweet of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted final approval to two settlements in the class action, In The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. Sec., Deriv., and ERISA Litig., Securities Action, 08 Civ. 2793 (RWS), Master File No. 08 MDL No. 1963 (RWS).  The Final Order and Judgement was entered on November 29, 2012.  The court approved a settlement with The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (Bear Stearns), James E. Cayne, Alan D. Schwartz, Warren J. Spector, Alan C. Greenberg, Samuel L. Molinaro Jr., Michael Alix and Jeffrey M. Farber (collectively, the Bear Stearns defendants) in the amount of $275 million in cash, plus interest.  The court also approved a settlement with Deloitte & Touche LLP (Deloitte) in the amount of $19.9 million in cash, plus interest.  The settlements resolve all claims in the securities action.

Labaton Keller Sucharow and Berman DeValerio are the court-appointed co-lead counsel for lead plaintiff, The State of Michigan Retirement Systems and the settlement class.

Lead plaintiff, on behalf of the settlement class, alleges that the Bear Stearns defendants made misstatements and omissions in connection with Bear Stearns's business and financial well-being, including losses in the value of its mortgage-backed assets and Bear Stearns' risk profile and liquidity, in violation of Sections 10(b), 20(a), and 20A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.  Lead plaintiff also alleges that Deloitte made misstatements and omissions in connection with its audits of Bear Stearns' financial statements for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 in violation of Section 10(b).  Lead plaintiff alleges that the misstatements and omissions had the effect of artificially inflating the price of Bear Stearns' securities.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired the publicly traded common stock or other equity securities, or call options of or guaranteed by Bear Stearns, or sold Bear Stearns put options, either in the open market or pursuant or traceable to a registration statement during the period from December 14, 2006 to and through March 14, 2008, inclusive (the class period), and were damaged thereby, you may be eligible to recover if you submit a Proof of Claim with supporting documents by October 25, 2012.  If you received Bear Stearns Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP) Units or Restricted Stock Units that fully vested, entitling you to an equivalent number of shares of Bear Stearns common stock upon settlement at the end of a deferral period, during the class period, as part of your compensation as an employee with Bear Stearns and participation in its CAP or Restricted Stock Unit Plan, you may also be eligible to recover if you submit a Proof of Claim with supporting documents by October 25, 2012.

A settlement hearing was held on September 19, 2012, at 12:00 p.m. before Judge Sweet in Courtroom 18C of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse.  The deadline for objecting to the settlements or for seeking exclusion from the settlement class has passed.