A group of former executives of a Lehman Brothers subsidiary is seeking to block the bid by senior Lehman executives to use $90 million of the remaining D&O insurance proceeds to settle the cases pending against them. As discussed here, on August 24, 2011, the senior executives filed a motion with the Lehman bankruptcy
MBIA Subprime-Related Securities Suit Settles for $68 Million
According to papers filed on September 6, 2008, the parties to the consolidated MBIA securities action pending in the Southern District of New York have agreed to settle the lawsuit for $68 million. The settlement is subject to court approval. As noted below, the settlement has some interesting features.
The parties’ stipulation of settlement can
What to Watch Now in the World of D&O
Every fall since I first started writing this blog, I have assembled a list of the current hot topics in the world of directors’ and officers’ liability. This year’s list is set out below. As should be obvious, there is a lot going on right now in the world of D&O, with further changes just
The Back-to-School Issue
Labor Day has come and gone. The kids are back in school. The air is cooler and the nights are longer. There’s a definite autumnal feel in the air. It is time to get back to work. Fortunately, The D&O Diary kept its eye on things over the summer. So if you are feeling the need
The SEC’s Latest Use of its SOX Section 304 Compensation Clawback Authority
In the latest example of the SEC’s use of its compensation clawback authority under Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC reached a settlement with the former CFO of Beazer Homes to return more than $1.4 million in bonus compensation he earned during a period when the company was committing accounting fraud. As is
In the Eye of the Storm: Defending Bank Officers and Directors in FDIC Litigation
I am pleased to present below a guest post from Mary C. Gill, Robert R. Long and Todd F. Chatham of the Officers & Directors of Distressed Financial Institutions team at the Alston & Bird law firm, in which they discuss the critical issues surrounding the defense of former directors and officers of failed banks who
D&O Insurance Coverage in the Wake of the IndyMac Bank Failure
In an opinion that provides an interesting glimpse of a complex D&O insurance program, on August 24, 2011, Central District of California Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the motions to dismiss of the insurance company defendants in an action that had been brought by a subsidiary of IndyMac bank, which was trying to establish its
Lehman Execs Seek $90 Million in D&O Insurance for Securities Suit Settlement
In a development that undoubtedly will attract comment and controversy, fourteen former Lehman Brothers executives – including former Lehman Chairman and CEO Dick Fuld (pictured) –have reached an agreement to settle the consolidated securities class action litigation that has been filed against them for $90 million. In a separate development, seventeen former Lehman executives have agreed
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Regions Financial Subprime-Related Trust Preferred Securities Suit.
On August 23, 2011, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit in an opinion by Judge Barrington D. Parker affirmed the dismissal of the subprime-related securities lawsuit that had been brought against Regional Financial Corporation and certain of its directors and officers. A copy of the Second Circuit’s opinion can be found here.
FDIC’s Latest Failed Bank Lawsuit Defendants Include Outside Directors and D&O Insurers; Also, Number of Problem Banks Declines
On August 22, 2011, when the FDIC filed a lawsuit related to the collapse of Silverton Bank, which is Georgia’s largest failed bank, the named defendants included not only bank officers that the regulators allege are responsible for the bank’s failure, but also the bank’s former outside directors and even the bank’s D&O insurers. A copy of