Hamilton Bancorp, Inc. - Securities Class Action

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_______________
Copyright (c) 2001
Stanford Law School

Hamilton Bancorp, Inc. Conclusion: According to the docket posted, on March 22, 2005, the Court entered the Order and Final Judgment signed by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez. The settlement was approved and the case closed.

In a press release dated January 20, 2005, Hamilton Bank shareholders have won an $8.5 million settlement in their class-action suit alleging executives of the now-shuttered Miami bank, its auditors and two Wall Street underwriters misled investors about future profits. Under the settlement agreement, shareholders of common stock and preferred shares would be awarded about 37 cents per share, with legal fees and costs taking up to 14 cents of the total, for an average payout of about 23 cents per share. The settlement, which must be approved by the federal court on Feb. 25, is the latest chapter in the shutdown of the local trade finance bank by federal regulators. Shareholders sued before the bank was closed, alleging that top officers, the auditors and underwriters made public announcements and filed misleading financial statements that overstated profits. The defendants have denied all the allegations.

On April 30, 2001, the Court consolidated all related cases into one class action lawsuit, appointed a Lead Plaintiff and approved his selection of Co-Lead Counsel. On June 22, 2001 a Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the "Amended Complaint") was filed. On September 7, 2001 Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint. On November 2, 2001, Lead Plaintiff submitted an opposition to Defendants' motion and on January 14, 2002 Judge Gold denied Defendants' motion. On February 27, 2002 Defendants filed their answer to the Amended Complaint. On April 15, 2002, Lead Plaintiff filed a motion for class certification, which was granted on March 13, 2003 by Judge Jose Martinez. On December 30, 2003 the Judge ordered all non-expert discovery to be completed by January 30, 2004 for a trial date that has been set for November 8, 2004. After conducting extensive pretrial discovery, the parties agreed to settle the lawsuit and on June 18, 2004 filed a Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement and a motion for Preliminary Approval of the proposed settlement. Pursuant to the terms of the proposed settlement, a Settlement Fund in the amount of $8,477,500, including interest that accrues on the fund prior to distribution, has been established for the benefit of the Class.

A similar class action filed on February 21, 2003, titled “Marshallville Packing et al. v. Hamilton Bancorp, Inc., et al.” was ordered consolidated with In re Hamilton Bancorp, Inc. Securities Litigation, and closed on March 19, 2004. The lawsuit filed in 2003 charges that defendants violated the federal securities laws by making material misrepresentations to the market between June 13, 2001 and January 11, 2002, that artificially inflated the price of Hamilton securities. The complaint alleges that Hamilton falsely told the marketplace that it was working diligently to meet the requirements of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), including meeting required capital requirements and adopting proper credit administration to safeguard the assets of Hamilton Bank, N.A., the Company's principal subsidiary. In November 2001, the Company announced its third quarter results and told investors that the bank had revised certain processes to better estimate allowances for loan losses to satisfy the OCC's concerns. After the close of trading, on January 11, 2002, however, the OCC closed the bank because it had inadequate capital, a high level of bad loans and had concealed information from federal examiners. The FDIC was appointed receiver. According to the OCC, "the bank's reserve for loan losses and the method for calculating that reserve, was chronically inadequate." The OCC also concluded that the bank's board and management were not responsive to the OCC's efforts to address the bank's problems.

The original complaint alleges that defendants violated the federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the class period, and as a result, the price of Hamilton securities were artificially inflated during that time. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the company repeatedly reported "record" financial results for the third quarter of 2000 and disclosed that its results were impacted by an increase in the provision for loan losses of $11.5 million, a write-down of an investment security of $4.3 million, and one-time provisioning for legal reserves of $3.3 million. The complaint charges that in response to this disclosure, the company's stock plummeted over 35%. The complaint further alleges that on 12/22/2000, after the close of the market, the company announced that it would be restating its previously reported financial results for fiscal years 1998, 1999 and a portion of fiscal 2000. In response to this announcement, on 12/26/2000, the next trading day, the price of Hamilton common stock traded at slightly over $6.50 per share, well below its class period high.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 6712
Sector: Financial
Industry: Regional Banks

COMPANY/ISSUER NAME:	Hamilton Bancorp, Inc.
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER:	HABK
COMPANY WEBSITE:	http://www.hamiltonbank.com

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE

Andris Indriksons, et al. v. Hamilton Bancorp, Inc., et al.

COURT: S.D. Florida	DOCKET NUMBER: 01-CV-156
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Alan S. Gold
DATE FILED: 1/12/2001	SOURCE: Business Wires
CLASS PERIOD START: 4/21/1998	CLASS PERIOD END: 12/22/2000
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Complaint (Unamended and Unconsolidated)
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Berger & Montague PC 1622 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103 (voice) 800.424.6690, (fax) 215.875.4604, investorprotect@bm.net Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo (MA) One Liberty Square, Boston, MA, 2109 (voice) 617.542.8300, (fax) 617.230.0903, info@bermanesq.com Burt & Pucillo LLP 515 North Flagler Drive, Northbridge Centre, Suite 1701, West Palm Beach, FL, 33401 (voice) 800.349.4612, (fax) , Cauley, Geller, Bowman, Coates & Rudman LLP (San Diego, CA) 225 Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA, 92010 (voice) 619.702.7350, (fax) 619.702.7351, Edward J. Carreiro , , , (voice) , (fax) , Law Offices of Charles J. Piven, P.A. World Trade Center-Baltimore,401 East Pratt Suite 2525, Baltimore, MD, 21202 (voice) 410.332.0030, (fax) , pivenlaw@erols.com Law Offices of Marc S. Henzel 335 Central Avenue, Lawrence, NY, 11559 (voice) 516.374.0707, (fax) 516.295.3473, securitiesfraud@comcast.net Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP (San Diego, CA) 600 West Broadway, 1800 One America Plaza, San Diego, CA, 92101 (voice) 800.449.4900, (fax) , support@milberg.com Schatz & Nobel, P.C. 330 Main Street, Hartford, CT, 06106 (voice) 800.797.5499, (fax) 860.493.6290, sn06106@AOL.com Vianale & Vianale LLP The Plaza - Suite 801, 5355 Town Center Road., Boca Raton, FL, 33486 (voice) 561.391.4900, (fax) 561.368.9274, info@vianalelaw.com Wampler, Buchanan & Breen, P.A. 777 Brickell Ave., Suite 900 , Miami, FL, 33131 (voice) 305.577.0044, (fax) , _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 11

DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
Complaint
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 01/12/2001

REFERENCE COMPLAINT

In Re: Hamilton Bancorp, Inc. Securities Litigation

COURT: S.D. Florida	DOCKET NUMBER: 01-CV-156
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Alan S. Gold
DATE FILED: 6/22/2001	SOURCE: Business Wires
CLASS PERIOD START: 4/21/1998	CLASS PERIOD END: 6/8/2001
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Consolidated and/or Amended
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (Florida) 197 S. Federal Highway, Suite 20, Boca Raton, FL, 33432 (voice) 561-750-3000, (fax) 561-750-3364, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP (Boca Raton) The Plaza - 5355 Town Center Road, Suite 900, Boca Raton, FL, 33486 (voice) 561.361.5000, (fax) 561.367.8400, info@milbergweiss.com Vianale & Vianale LLP The Plaza - Suite 801, 5355 Town Center Road., Boca Raton, FL, 33486 (voice) 561.391.4900, (fax) 561.368.9274, info@vianalelaw.com _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 3

DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement
Type: Settlement		Date on the document: 06/18/2004
Notice Of Pendency Of Class Action And Proposed Settlement, Motion For Attorneys’ Fees, And Settlement Fairness Hearing
Type: Notice		Date on the document: 11/12/2004
Proof Of Claim And Release
Type: Other		Date on the document: 11/12/2004
U.S. District Court Civil Docket
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 05/27/2005

OTHER DOCUMENTS
Class Action Complaint
Case Name and/or Number: Marshallville Packing, et al. v. Hamilton Bancorp, Inc., et al.
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 02/21/2003
U.S. District Court Civil Docket
Case Name and/or Number: Marshallville Packing, et al. v. Hamilton Bancorp, Inc., et al.
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 03/19/2004

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