Are bank directors and officers sufficiently different from directors and officers of ordinary business corporations that the protections of the business judgment rule available to other directors and officers are not available to protect directors and officers of a bank? That is a question that Northern District of Georgia Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. asked
bank
D&O Insurance: Notice to Claims Department Required to Satisfy Notice Requirements
Disputes over notice of claim requirements usually involve questions about the timing or content of the notice. A recent notice dispute involving UnitedHealth Group raised neither questions of timing or content; rather, the dispute involved the question of “to whom” the notice must be sent. In an April 25, 2013 opinion (here), District of…
FDIC Files First Suit Against Failed Bank’s Accountants:
On November 1, 2012, in what is the first lawsuit the FDIC has filed as part of the current bank failure wave against a failed bank’s accountants, the FDIC, as receiver for the failed Colonial Bank, has filed an action in the Middle District of Alabama against Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Crowe Horwath. PwC served as…
FDIC Sues Former Officers of Failed California Bank
In its latest failed bank lawsuit, the FDIC, in its capacity as receiver of the failed County Bank of Merced, California, has filed a complaint against five former officer of the bank. The FDIC’s complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California on January 27, 2012, just short…
FDIC Failed Bank Litigation and the Insured vs. Insured Exclusion
An inevitable part of the current wave of bank failures has been the FDIC’s filing of lawsuits against former directors and officers of the failed institutions. And though the FDIC’s initiation of this litigation has been gradual, the lawsuits have now started to accumulate in significant numbers. And just as this FDIC litigation was…
FDIC Files Civil Suit Against Former Integrity Bank Officials
More banks have failed in Georgia than any other state as part of the current bank failure wave, but the FDIC had not yet filed a civil action against the former officials of a failed Georgia bank – that is, until now. On January 14, 2011, in what is the third FDIC lawsuit overall against…
The “Back-to- School” Issue
If the number of out of office messages sent back when I sent out new blog post email notifications during August are any indication, many readers have been away for some or all of the past few weeks. I hope you saved the little paper umbrella from the fruity drink that you and your spouse…
Inadequate Loan Loss Reserve Disclosure Case Dismissed
In a recent post, I discussed several recent decisions in which securities cases involving failed or troubled banking institutions survived dismissal motions. By contrast, however, in an August 16, 2010 ruling (here), Southern District of New York Judge Robert Patterson, Jr. granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss without prejudice in the securities…
What Does The SEC’s Enforcement Action Against Countrywide’s Mozilo Signify?
In its most significant enforcement action yet related to the subprime meltdown, on June 4, 2009, the SEC filed a civil securities fraud complaint (here) in the Central District of California against Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., as well as the company’s former COO and CFO. The complaint…