In a November 9, 2010 order (here) in the Citigroup subprime-related securities suit, Southern District of New York Judge Sidney Stein dismissed a host of allegations and a number of individual defendants. However, Judge Stein denied the motion to dismiss as to plaintiffs’ claims regarding Citigroup’s exposure to its CDO portfolio, which Judge
Kevin LaCroix
Kevin M. LaCroix is an attorney and Executive Vice President, RT ProExec, a division of RT Specialty. RT ProExec is an insurance intermediary focused exclusively on management liability issues.
Schwab Withdraws from Subprime Securities Suit Settlement
There is a reason that when class action settlements are announced, they are described as preliminary and subject to final approval – sometimes the settlements fall apart before the case is finally put to rest. That appears be what has happened with the Schwab YieldPlus subprime-related securities class action lawsuit.
As discussed here…
Does D&O Insurance Undermine the Deterrence Effect of Securities Litigation?

All too often, the securities class action litigation process seems like a complicated and costly mechanism for transferring large amounts of money to the lawyers involved but only small amounts to the aggrieved investors, all at the expense of the D&O insurers. It is hard not to wonder sometimes what the whole process accomplishes, other…
A Securities Litigation Stalwart Takes a Loss
Although the world of electoral politics may seem distant from the directors’ and officers’ liability arena, there was one development in Tuesday’s elections that potentially could affect the D&O claims environment, and it happened right here in The D&O Diary’s home state of Ohio. It has not drawn much national attention, but Ohio’s activist Attorney…
Subprime Securities Suit Against Toll Brothers Settles for $25 Million
In a resolution of one of the longest running subprime-related securities class action lawsuits, the parties to the Toll Brothers subprime securities suit have agreed to settle the case for $25 million. The parties’ stipulation of settlement filed on October 28, 2010 can be found here.
The Toll Brothers case was among the…
FDIC Sues Failed Bank’s Former Directors and Officers
If the lawsuit filed on Monday is any indication, the long-anticipated FDIC litigation against failed banks may have arrived. On November 1, 2010, the FDIC filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois against eleven former directors and officers of Heritage Community Bank, a lending institution in Glenwood, Illinois that failed in February 2009…
The Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions: Some Other Things to Worry About
Among the many innovations introduced in the massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act enacted this past July are the new whistleblower provisions, designed to encourage employees and others to report securities law violations to the SEC. The bounty award provided for in the whistleblower provisions seem likely to encourage fraud reporting, but…
Book Review: “American Colossus”
In our era, the burgeoning BRIC countries represent the developing economies forcing their way onto the global stage and arguably even threatening to dominate the financial arena in the decades ahead. It is hard to remember now, but in the late 19th century, the developing economy that was pushing its way into the global…
Executive Protection: D&O Insurance – Limits Selection and Program Structure
In a series of posts, I have been exploring the “nuts and bolts” of D&O insurance. In this post, the seventh in the series, I examine the perennial questions of limits selection and program structure – that is, how much insurance is enough, and how should the insurance be structured? As explained below, these two…
The LexisNexis Top 25 Business Law Blogs of 2010
The LexisNexis Top 25 Business Law Blogs of 2010, as selected by the members of the LexisNexis business law communities, have been announced, and I am pleased and honored to discover that The D&O Diary is among this year’s designees. The LexisNexis announcement, including the list of the 2010 Top 25 Business Law blogs, can…