American Express Company - Securities Class Action

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_______________
Copyright (c) 2001
Stanford Law School

American Express Company Summary: On September 26, 2008 the judge entered a Memorandum and Order dismissing with prejudice the claims in the Second Consolidated Amended complaint. Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal on November 7, 2008.

On October 27, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a mandate reversing the lower court's order of dismissal without prejudice, granting plaintiff's leave to file a Second Amended complaint. Plaintiffs did so on January 11, 2007. Defendants filed a motion to strike the Second Amended Complaint on March 9, 2007 with a hearing for oral arguments scheduled for July 11, 2007.

According to the Company’s FORM 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, beginning in mid-July 2002, 12 putative class action lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In October 2002, these cases were consolidated under the caption In re American Express Company Securities Litigation. On March 31, 2004, the Court granted the Company’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Plaintiffs have appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The original lawsuit asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated by the SEC thereunder and seeks to recover damages.The complaint alleges that American Express and certain of its officers and directors made misstatements and omissions of material fact, including failing to disclose that American Express was investing in a risky portfolio of high-yield or "junk" bonds with ratings as low as "single-B" that carried the potential for substantial losses if default rates in the junk bond market increased, failing to disclose the true extent of American Express's total exposure as a result of the foregoing after American Express wrote down $182 million of its junk bond portfolio in April 2001, and failing to disclose that American Express was taking a substantial and unnecessary risk by investing in high-yield securities involving complex risk factors that American Express management and personnel did not fully comprehend. The complaint further alleges that after the full truth regarding American Express's unnecessarily risky and imprudent investment strategy began to become known to the market on July 18, 2001 when American Express announced a surprise charge against earnings of $826 million, its third consecutive write-down of high-yield or "junk" bonds, American Express stock traded as low as $37.17, down from a class period high of over $62.00.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 6141
Sector: Financial
Industry: Consumer Financial Services

COMPANY/ISSUER NAME:	American Express Company
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER:	AXP
COMPANY WEBSITE:	http://www.americanexpress.com/

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE

Slayton, et al. v. American Express Company, et al.

COURT: S.D. New York	DOCKET NUMBER: 02-CV-5533
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Richard M. Berman
DATE FILED: 07/17/2002	SOURCE: Business Wires
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/18/1999	CLASS PERIOD END: 07/17/2001
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Complaint (Unamended and Unconsolidated)
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP (New York, NY) 10 E. 40th Street, 22nd Floor, New York, NY, 10016 (voice) 800.217.1522, (fax) , info@bernlieb.com Cauley Geller Bowman Coates & Rudman LLP (Little Rock, AR) P.O. Box 25438, Little Rock, AR, 72221-5438 (voice) 501.312.8500, (fax) 501.312.8505, 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 Leo W. Desmond 2161 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Suite 204, West Palm Beach, FL, 33409 (voice) 561.712.8000, (fax) 561.712.8000, stocklaw@bellsouth.net Lovell Stewart Halebian LLP 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10110 (voice) 212.608.1900, (fax) 212.719.4677, info@lshllp.com Paskowitz & Associates 60 East 42nd Street, 46th Floor, New York, NY, 10165 (voice) 212.685.0969, (fax) 212.685.2306, classattorney@aol.com Rabin & Peckel LLP 275 Madison Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY, 10016 (voice) 212.682.1818, (fax) 212.682.1892, email@rabinlaw.com Weiss & Yourman (New York, NY) The French Building, 551 Fifth Ave., Suite 1600, New York, NY, 10126 (voice) 212.682.3025, (fax) 212.682.3010, info@wyca.com _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 8

DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
Class Action Complaint
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 07/18/2002

REFERENCE COMPLAINT

In Re: American Express Company Securities Litigation

COURT: S.D. New York	DOCKET NUMBER: 02-CV-5533
JUDGE NAME: Hon. William H. Pauley III
DATE FILED: 01/11/2007	SOURCE: Business Wires
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/26/1999	CLASS PERIOD END: 07/17/2001
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Second Consolidated
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Lovell Stewart Halebian LLP 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10110 (voice) 212.608.1900, (fax) 212.719.4677, info@lshllp.com Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP (New York, NY) One Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY, 10119-1065 (voice) 212.594.5300, (fax) , _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 2

DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
Consolidated Second Amended Class Action Complaint
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 01/11/2007
Memorandum And Order
Type: Order		Date on the document: 9/26/2008
U.S. District Court Civil Docket
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 11/10/2008

OTHER DOCUMENTS
U.S. Court of Appeals Docket
Case Name and/or Number: In Re: American Express Company Securities Litigation
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 10/03/2006
Notice Of Appeal
Case Name and/or Number: In Re: American Express Company Securities Litigation
Type: Notice of Appeal		Date on the document: 11/07/2008

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