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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.

On May 7, 2009, a jury in the Northern District of Illinois entered a mixed verdict finding in plaintiffs’ favor on several counts in the Household International securities fraud securities class action lawsuit, a long-running case with overtones of the current subprime meltdown. Background regarding the case can be found here.

The verdict

Though the subprime and credit crisis-related securities litigation wave is now well into its third year, relatively few of the cases have yet settled or otherwise finally been resolved. However, the parties to one of the securities lawsuits filed in the earliest stages of the litigation wave have announced that they have settled the case

As the subprime meltdown has become a more generalized economic crisis, the adverse consequences have moved far beyond the residential real estate sector where the trouble first began. Until recently, however, the worst effects were concentrated in the financial sector. But as Chrysler’s recent bankruptcy filing shows, the turmoil is no longer limited to the

Securities class action lawsuits filings are on pace to make 2009 the most active for securities class action filings in years, according to Advisen’s May 1, 2009 Securities Litigation Quarterly (here). According to the report, there were 67 securities class action lawsuits in the first quarter of 2009, up from 56 a year

With the addition of four more bank closures this past Friday night, the YTD number of bank failures now stands at 29, which already exceeds 2008’s total of 25 and is the highest annual total since 1993, at the end of the last era of failed banks. All signs are that the number of bank

As reflected in the most recent dismissal motion rulings in the Countrywide subprime securities lawsuit, the proper use of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan can provide a substantial defense to allegations of securities law violations. In her April 6, 2009 opinion (here), Central District of California Mariana Pfaelzer dismissed the insider trading allegations