In the latest eye-popping subprime-related securities class action lawsuit settlement, the parties to the National City Corporation securities class action lawsuit have agreed to settle the case for $168 million. The proposed settlement is subject to court approval. The August 8, 2011 press release of the New York Comptroller, acting on behalf of the New York State pension funds as lead plaintiff, can be found here.

 

The settlement papers are not yet available on PACER (indeed, that is the reason I waited for a day to publish a post about this settlement, in the hope that I might be able to run down copies of the papers. No luck so far – should I get my hands on them, I will post them to this site.) Jan Wolfe’s August 9, 2011 Am Law Litigation Daily article describing the settlement can be found here.

 

As detailed here, this case arises out of the financial woes that beset Cleveland-based National City as its portfolio of subprime related mortgages nearly dragged the bank down. In their 249-page consolidated amended complaint (here), the plaintiffs alleged that as the residential real estate market began to collapse in 2007, the bank’s residential mortgage and construction loan portfolio – which allegedly was of much lower quality than the bank had disclosed — began to deteriorate much more rapidly than the company acknowledged publicly. The plaintiffs alleged further that the bank’s failure to recognize this deterioration rendered the bank’s financial statements and other disclosures materially misleading.

 

National City’s financial difficulties proved so severe that in October 2008, it was acquired at fire sale prices by PNC. The transaction was highly controversial at the time, and not just because it involved a takeover of a landmark Cleveland institution by a bank based in Pittsburgh. As discussed at greater length here, because PNC moved to acquire National City using TARP funds that PNC had only just received and only after TARP funds were withhold from National City.  The PNC acquisition was itself the subject of separate litigation, which was later voluntarily dismissed. PNC’s acquisition of National City means that the likely source of funds for this settlement was PNC itself, to the extent not otherwise funded by D&O insurance – hence my interest in seeing the settlement papers.

 

The parties to the related-ERISA class action previously settled that action for $43 million, as discussed at greater length here.

 

The $168 million National City securities class action lawsuit settlement follows close on the heels of the announcement of the $627 million Wachovia bondholders’ settlement. I have long wondered when the overhang of subprime-related securities class action lawsuit would finally start to work itself off. With these settlements, it seems increasingly likely that the time may now be here.

 

There have been larger settlements announced in connection with the subprime-related securities class action litigation wave, but the National City settlement is still attention-grabbing. Among other things, the National City settlement, if approved, would be the 53rd largest all-time securities class action lawsuit settlement. As was the case with the Wachovia settlement, the National City settlement was not (prior to the settlement) one of the highest profile subprime-related cases. But while these two cases may not have been at the center of the radar screen, these two nine-figure settlements in quick succession undoubtedly have gotten everyone’s attention.

 

The problem for the parties in the remaining subprime cases is that these settlements — and the recent $125 million settlement in the Wells Fargo mortgage-backed securities cases – create an even more challenging environment in which to try to work out a settlement. The plaintiffs in these other cases undoubtedly will by try to rely on these settlements as a way to try to argue that the price of poker is going up.

 

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us: It may not be quite the same thing without Kurt Cobain, but still this is pretty awesome.