In re Mutual Funds Investment Litigation - Bank of America / Nations Sub-Track

We obtained favorable results in this case involving allegations of wrongful late trading and market timing.

On October 25, 2010, the Honorable J. Frederick Motz, of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland granted final approval to the global class action and derivative settlement of the In re Mutual Funds Investment Litigation., Bank of America/Nations sub-track No. 04-md-15862 (D. Md).  There are 2 settlements in this Bank of America/Nations Funds sub-track: the Nations Settlement and the Canary Severed Settlement.  Together, the settlements resolve all securities, ERISA and derivative claims in this sub-track.

Labaton Keller Sucharow was appointed lead class counsel for the Nations Funds and Canary Class Members. A Final Settlement Hearing was held on October 21 and 22, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. before Honorable J. Frederick Motz and the Honorable Catherine C. Blake in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, United States Courthouse, 101 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201.

The Mutual Funds Investment Litigation involved allegations of wrongful late trading and/or market timing by preferred investors in several different mutual fund families: Alger, Alliance, AMCAP, Bank of America/Nations Funds, Columbia, Excelsior, Federated, Franklin-Templeton, Invesco, Janus, MFS, One Group, Pilgrim-Baxter, Putnam, RS Funds, Scudder and Strong.  "Market timing" is the frequent buying and selling of mutual fund shares to exploit any lag between changes in the value of the fund's portfolio of securities and the mutual fund's share price.  "Late trading" is placing orders to buy or sell mutual fund shares after 4:00 p.m. ET, but receiving the price based on the prior Net Asset Value already determined as of 4:00 p.m. that same day, which enables the trader to profit from knowledge of market-moving events that occur after 4:00 p.m.