Huntington Bancshares Incorporated - Securities Class Action

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Stanford Law School

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated Summary: According to a press release dated December 19, 2007, the complaint charges Huntington and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Huntington operates as the holding company for The Huntington National Bank (“Huntington National”), which provides retail and commercial financial products and services.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and financial results. Huntington had acquired more than $1.5 billion in exposure to subprime mortgages with its July 2007 acquisition of Sky Financial Group, Inc. (“Sky Financial”). As the real estate and credit markets continued to soften, defendants repeatedly assured Huntington investors that the Company had undertaken significant preparations and implemented defensive measures to weather the deteriorating real estate and credit markets. By the time Huntington closed the merger with Sky Financial, the housing and credit crisis had deepened, yet defendants continued to conceal Huntington’s growing exposure to these problems so as to not acknowledge the acquisition was a debacle so soon after it closed. As a result of defendants’ false statements, Huntington stock traded at an artificially inflated price of approximately $18 per share during much of the Class Period.

Then, on November 16, 2007, Huntington announced its fourth quarter 2007 financial results, stating that as a result of the recently announced actions of Franklin Credit Management Corporation, which had a commercial lending relationship with Sky Financial, and related deterioration in Franklin’s mortgage portfolios, 2007 fourth quarter results for Huntington were expected to include an after-tax charge of up to $300 million, or $0.81 per common share. As a result of this charge, Huntington would report a 2007 fourth quarter net loss.

On this news, Huntington’s stock dropped from $16.08 per share to as low as $14.38 per share, closing at $14.75 per share on November 16, 2007 on volume of over 10 million shares.

According to the complaint, the true facts, which were known by defendants but concealed from the investing public during the Class Period, were as follows: (a) the Company had far greater exposure to anticipated losses and defaults in its home loan portfolio, particularly with subprime debt exposure arising from Sky Financial, than it had previously disclosed; and (b) defendants’ Class Period statements about the Company’s financial results were materially false due to its failure to record timely and adequate accruals for losses on its exposure to delinquent subprime mortgages.

On June 24, 2009, an order consolidating the cases, appointing lead plaintiff and lead counsel was filed with the court in this ongoing action.

On August 22, 2009, a consolidated class action against all defendants, filed by all plaintiffs was entered into this docket.

On December 4, 2009, it was ordered and adjudged that pursuant to the Opinion and Order, Defendants’ motion to dismiss was GRANTED; dismissing all of Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice. A subsequent judgment was entered in the docket on the same day.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 6021
Sector: Financial
Industry: Regional Banks

COMPANY/ISSUER NAME:	Huntington Bancshares Incorporated
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER:	HBAN
COMPANY WEBSITE:	http://www.huntington.com

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE

Stephen Ellman, et al. v. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, et al.

COURT: S.D. Ohio	DOCKET NUMBER: 07-CV-01276
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Michael H. Watson
DATE FILED: 12/19/2007	SOURCE: Notice of Filing
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/20/2007	CLASS PERIOD END: 11/16/2007
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Complaint (Unamended and Unconsolidated)
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
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, info@csgrr.com/ Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (San Diego) 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA, 92101 (voice) 619.231.1058, (fax) 619.231.7423, info@csgrr.com/ Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler, LLP (Radnor) 280 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA, 19087 (voice) 610.667.7706, (fax) 610.667.7056, info@sbtklaw.com Strauss & Troy The Federal Reserve Building, 150 East Fourth Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45202-4018 (voice) 513.621.2120, (fax) 513.241.8250, wlwoods@strauss-troy.com Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP (New York) 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10016 (voice) 212.545.4600, (fax) 212.686.0114, newyork@whafh.com _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 5

DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
Class Action Complaint for Violation of the Federal Securities Laws - Demand for Jury Trial
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 12/19/2007
US District Court Civil Docket
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 5/13/2008
Consolidation Order
Type: Order		Date on the document: 06/10/2008
Order Appointing Lead Plaintiff And Approving Lead And Liaison Counsel
Type: Order		Date on the document: 06/24/2008

REFERENCE COMPLAINT

In re Huntington Bancshares Securities Litigation

COURT: S.D. Ohio	DOCKET NUMBER: 07-CV-01276
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Michael H. Watson
DATE FILED: 08/22/2008	SOURCE: Docket
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/19/2007	CLASS PERIOD END: 11/16/2007
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: First Consolidated
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (Boca Raton) 120 East Palmetto Park Road, Suite 500, Boca Raton, FL, 33432 (voice) 561.750.3000, (fax) 561.750.3000, _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 1

DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
Consolidated Class Action Complaint
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 08/22/2008
Judgment In A Civil Case
Type: Summary Judgment		Date on the document: 12/04/2009
Opinion and Order
Type: Order		Date on the document: 12/04/2009
U.S. District Court Civil Docket
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 12/04/2009

OTHER DOCUMENTS
Class Action Complaint - Jury Trial Demanded
Case Name and/or Number: Michael Vecchio, et al. v. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, et al.
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 01/17/2008
Class Action Complaint for Violations of Federal Securities Laws - Jury Trial Demanded
Case Name and/or Number: Edward Rowe, et al. v. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, et al.
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 02/01/2008
Class Action Demand For Jury Trial
Case Name and/or Number: Rick Tom, et al. v. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, et al.
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 5/7/2008

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