Firm Announces Tentative Settlement in Trust Fund Class Action Lawsuit
Dec 11, 2003
Los Angeles (December 2003) – Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. announces that a $90 million settlement agreement has been reached in the class action lawsuit brought against financial institutions Bankers Trust Co. of New York, Wells Fargo & Co., U.S. Trust Corp., Bank of America Corp., Bear, Stearns & Co. and Settlement Services Inc. over the taking of trust funds created to support medical care and living expenses for 250 individuals who had settled personal injury cases in the 1980s. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman must approve the settlement agreement in early 2004 before it is final; the settlement will restore the plaintiffs’ losses in full.
The class action, originally filed in January 2001, became necessary when plaintiffs stopped receiving periodic payments from a trust of bonds established for their structured settlements, which provided guaranteed payments to payees over 20-30 years. The company that managed the settlements used the bonds as collateral and subsequently defaulted on those loans. The named financial institutions, which deny liability for the losses under the settlement, allegedly participated in varying degrees in transactions leading to the sale of the bonds.
"We feel privileged to represent these plaintiffs and to be able to restore a measure of security to them that they almost lost," said class co-counsel Bernice Conn and Roman M. Silberfeld of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. "It is a critically important outcome for the plaintiffs, who have been involved in this litigation for nearly three years. Among the most vulnerable members of our society, they had already suffered from their injuries, they shouldn't have had to fight once again to get funds that they were rightfully entitled to." In addition to the Los Angeles office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P. , the other law firms representing the plaintiff class include Susman Godfrey L.L. P., Pachuslki, Stang, Ziehl, Young, Jones & Weintraub, P.C. and Foley & Bezek, LLP.
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