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Copyright (c) 2001
Stanford Law School


RAIT Financial Trust
Summary: The original complaint charges RAIT and certain of its officers and trustees with violations of the Federal Securities Laws. RAIT is a real estate investment trust, providing comprehensive debt financing options to the real estate industry including bridge and mezzanine loans, preferred equity investments, trust preferred securities ("TruPS") and subordinated debt for private and corporate owners of commercial real estate, REITs and real estate operating companies and their intermediaries throughout the United States and Europe.

According to the complaint, during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements that misrepresented and failed to disclose (i) RAIT's financial relationship with American Home Mortgage ("AHM"); that (ii) the payment to RAIT by American Home Mortgage of the TruPS was in jeopardy, which could result in at least a net exposure of $95 million, or $1.56 per share of book value; and that (iii) RAIT had failed to adequately reserve for the risk of nonpayment of American Home Mortgage and the loss in value of the associated securities in an amount of approximately $95 million.

On July 31, 2007, RAIT surprised the market by announcing that it did not receive payment from AHM of trust preferred securities due on July 30, 2007 from AHM, resulting in at least a net equity exposure of $95 million. The price of RAIT's common stock declined in reaction to this news from a close on July 30, 2007 of $16.06 to a close on July 31, 2007 of $10.36.

On October 25, 2007, the judge entered an order consolidated related cases and appointing Brahman Capital, an employee-owned investment management firm, as lead plaintiff. The first Consolidated Class Action Complaint, adding several additional individuals, underwriters and the company's independent auditor, was filed January 4, 2008. Defendants filed motions for dismissal on March 10, 2008.

On December 22, 2008 the judge entered an order granting in part and denying in part defendants' motions for dismissal. Specifically, Counts Four, Five and Six of the complaint were dismissed without prejudice. With respect to Plaintiffs’ claim alleging a duty to update or a duty to correct under Count One, defendants' motions were granted without prejudice. Motions to dismiss Counts Two, Three, Seven and Eight were denied.

On February 26, 2009, and March 4, 2009, defendants Grant Thornton LLP and Piper Jaffray & Co., respectively, filed motions for entry of judgment. On April 24, 2009, Judge Legrome D. Davis granted the lead plaintiff’s motion to substitute their counsel. On June 29, 2009, Judge Davis denied without prejudice the motions for entry of judgment. On July 15, 2009, the lead plaintiff filed a motion for preliminary approval of settlement, certification of the class and approval of notice to the class. The proposed settlement is in the amount of $32 million in cash.

On September 4, 2009, the Honorable Legrome D. Davis preliminarily approved the Settlement on the terms set forth in the Stipulation, subject to further consideration at the Settlement Hearing to be held before this Court on Thursday, December 10, 2009.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 6798
Sector: Services
Industry: Real Estate Operations


COMPANY/ISSUER NAME: RAIT Financial Trust
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER: RAS
COMPANY WEBSITE: http://www.raitft.com

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE
A1 Credit Company, et al. v. RAIT Financial Trust, et al.
 COURT: E.D. Pennsylvania  DOCKET NUMBER: 07-CV-03148
 JUDGE NAME: Hon. Legrome D. Davis
 DATE FILED: 08/01/2007  SOURCE: Notice of Filing
 CLASS PERIOD START: 01/10/2007  CLASS PERIOD END: 07/31/2007
 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
  • Donovan Searles, LLC
      1845 Walnut Street, Suite 1100, Philadelphia, PA, 19103
       (voice) 215-732-6067, (fax) 215-732-8060, staff@donovansearles.com
  • Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C.
      One South Broad Street - Suite 2100, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
       (voice) 215.238.1700, (fax) 215.238.1960, info@kohnswift.com
  • Law Offices of Bernard M. Gross (Philadelphia)
      1515 Locust Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19102
       (voice) 215-561-3600, (fax) 215-561-3000, bmgross@bernardmgross.com
  • Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (Melville)
      58 South Service Road, Suite 200, Melville, NY, 11747
       (voice) 631.367.7100, (fax) 631.367.1173,
  • Seeger Weiss LLP (New York)
      One William Street, New York, NY, 10004
       (voice) 212.584.0700, (fax) , info@seegerweiss.com
    _____________________________________________
     TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS:  6

  •  DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
    Complaint
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 08/01/2007
    U.S. District Court Civil Docket
    Type: Docket Date on the document: 08/01/2007
    Order
    Type: Order Appointing LP/LC Date on the document: 10/25/2007

    REFERENCE COMPLAINT
    In Re: RAIT Financial Trust Securities Litigation
     COURT: E.D. Pennsylvania  DOCKET NUMBER: 07-CV-03148
     JUDGE NAME: Hon. LEGROME D. DAVIS
     DATE FILED: 01/04/2008  SOURCE: Docket
     CLASS PERIOD START: 06/08/2006  CLASS PERIOD END: 08/03/2007
     TYPE OF COMPLAINT: First Consolidated
     PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
  • Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (Westfield, NJ)
      220 St. Paul Street, Westfield, NJ, 07090
       (voice) 908.928.1700, (fax) 908.301.9008, blbg@blbglaw.com
  • Grant & Eisenhofer (New York)
      485 Lexington Avenue, 29th Floor, New York, NY,
       (voice) 646.722.8500, (fax) 646.722.8500, lawyers@gelaw.com
    _____________________________________________
     TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS:  2

  •  DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
    Consolidated Class Action Complaint
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 01/04/2008
    Memorandum
    Type: Order Date on the document: 12/22/2008
    Order
    Type: Order Date on the document: 04/24/2009
    Notice of Lead Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Approval of Settlement, Certification of Class for Settlement Purposes and Approval of Notice to the Class
    Type: Notice Date on the document: 07/15/2009
    Order Preliminarily Approving Settlement and Setting Settlement Hearing
    Type: Order Date on the document: 09/04/2009
    U.S. District Court Civil Docket
    Type: Docket Date on the document: 09/14/2009

     OTHER DOCUMENTS
    Class Action Complaint
    Case Name and/or Number: Theona B. Salkowitz, et al. v. RAIT Financial Trust, et al.
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 08/16/2007
    Class Action Complaint for Violations of Federal Securities Laws - Demand for Jury Trial
    Case Name and/or Number: Jack Reynolds, et al. v. RAIT Financial Trust, et al.
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 08/21/2007

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