Overview
In an order yesterday, Judge Castel denied a challenge to a proposed $20 million settlement of the Bank of America derivative suit concerning its acquisitions of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. (See here for a prior post on the case.) The challenge was broughy by lawyers for a parallel case in Delaware who claimed the settlement was grossly inadequate. Judge Castel found, however, that any complaints about the settlement's adequacy are "best raised in the settlement approval process," and that the Delaware lawyers "have not adequately explained why intervention is required to protect their interests, as distinguished from exercising their rights as objectors under Rule 23.1." The Delaware lawyers may yet prevail, however. They raised a question about whether the New York plaintiffs had sold their stock (and hence lost standing), and Judge Castel directed the plaintiffs to submit affidavits on the subject within 14 days.
