Frontier Financial Corporation - Securities Class Action

Company and Case Information

IMPORTANT INFORMATION | INDEX OF FILINGS | SEARCH

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors

Register

_______________
Copyright (c) 2001
Stanford Law School

Frontier Financial Corporation Summary: According to a press release dated April 15, 2010, the complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and financial results and engaged in improper behavior which harmed Frontier’s investors by failing to disclose the extent of seriously delinquent commercial real estate loans and construction and land loans. The Company also failed to adequately and timely record losses for its impaired loans, causing its financial results and its Tier 1 capital ratio to be materially false. As a result of defendants’ false and misleading statements, Frontier stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $186.00 per share on September 19, 2008.

In July 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (“FDIC”) and the state of Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions (“DFI”) conducted an investigation into Frontier’s banking practices and cited Frontier with engaging in certain “unsafe and unsound” practices. In March 2009, Frontier entered into a cease-and-desist order with banking regulators and agreed to take certain corrective actions related to the findings of the July 2008 report by the FDIC and DFI.

Then on March 16, 2010, after the market closed, Frontier announced that it had received a Supervisory Prompt Corrective Action Directive from the FDIC. The FDIC warned that the Company was “critically undercapitalized” which could lead to Frontier being placed into conservatorship or receivership, raising doubt about the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern. Frontier further restated its previously announced fourth quarter and year end 2009 results as the FDIC determined that Frontier’s loan loss provision and its valuation adjustment of other real estate owned were understated by $30 million and $3.5 million, respectively. On this news, Frontier’s stock dropped $1.35 per share to close at $2.89 per share on March 17, 2010, a one-day decline of nearly 32%, on volume of 710,400 shares, and a decline of 98% from the stock’s Class Period high.

According to the Order, signed by Judge John C. Coughenour, on August 3, 2010, the Court hereby orders that the above-captioned securities class action lawsuits be consolidated as a single action, hereafter James Hammer, et al., v. Frontier Financial Corporation, et al., Case No. 10-0643-JCC. All future filings shall be submitted under this caption only. Plaintiff James Hammer’s motions for appointment as lead plaintiff and for approval of counsel are granted. The Consolidated Complaint was filed on October 15, 2010, adding the Chief Credit Officer as named defendant in the action. On December 16, 2010, the defendants responded by filing a motion to dismiss the Consolidated Complaint.

On September 7, 2011, Judge John C. Coughenour granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint. Plaintiff may amend the complaint within 20 days, which they did on October 14, 2011. The defendants responded by filing a motion to dismiss on November 18, 2011.

On April 20, 2012, Judge John C. Coughenour granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint. The Clerk was directed to close the case.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 6022
Sector: Financial
Industry: Regional Banks

COMPANY/ISSUER NAME:	Frontier Financial Corporation
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER:	FTBK
COMPANY WEBSITE:	http://www.frontierbank.com

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE

Becker Ben, et al. v. Frontier Financial Corporation, et al.

COURT: W.D. Washington	DOCKET NUMBER: 10-CV-00643
JUDGE NAME: Hon. Ricardo S Martinez
DATE FILED: 04/15/2010	SOURCE:
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/22/2008	CLASS PERIOD END: 03/16/2010
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Complaint (Unamended and Unconsolidated)
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Dyer & Berens LLP 303 East 17th Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80203 (voice) 303.861.1764, (fax) 303.861.1764, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP (New Seattle) 1918 Eighth Ave. Suite 3300, Seattle, WA, 98101 (voice) 206.623.7292, (fax) 206.623.0594, Holzer Holzer & Fistel, LLC (Atlanta) 200 Ashford Center North, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA, 30338 (voice) 770.392.0090, (fax) 770.392.0090, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (San Diego) 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA, 92101 (voice) 619.231.1058, (fax) 619.231.7423, _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 4

DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
Class Action Complaint For Violation Of The Federal Securities Laws
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 04/15/2010
Order
Type: Order of Consolidation		Date on the document: 08/03/2010

REFERENCE COMPLAINT

James Hammer, et al. v. Frontier Financial Corporation, et al.

COURT: W.D. Washington	DOCKET NUMBER: 10-CV-00643
JUDGE NAME:
DATE FILED: 10/14/2011	SOURCE:
CLASS PERIOD START: 07/22/2008	CLASS PERIOD END: 03/25/2009
TYPE OF COMPLAINT: First Amended and Consolidated
PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP (Los Angeles) 1801 Ave. of the Stars, Suite 311, Los Angeles, CA, 90067 (voice) 310.201.915, (fax) 310. 201-916, info@glancylaw.com _____________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS: 1

DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
Consolidated Class Action Complaint For Violations Of The Federal Securities Laws
Type: Complaint		Date on the document: 10/15/2010
Order
Type: Order		Date on the document: 09/07/2011
U.S. District Court Civil Docket
Type: Docket		Date on the document: 10/27/2011
Order
Type: Other		Date on the document: 04/20/2012
Notice of Appeal
Type: Notice of Appeal		Date on the document: 05/10/2012

OTHER DOCUMENTS

Case Name and/or Number:
Type:		Date on the document:

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY:
The information included on this Web site, whether provided by personnel employed by Stanford Law School or by third parties, is provided for research and teaching purposes only. Neither Stanford University, Stanford Law School, nor any of their employees, agents, contractors, or affiliates warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information or analyses displayed herein, and we caution all readers that inclusion of any information on this site does not constitute an endorsement of the truthfulness or accuracy of that information. In particular, this Web site contains complaints and other documents filed in federal and state courts, which make allegations that may or may not be accurate. No reader should, on the basis of information contained in or referenced by this Web site, assume that any of these allegations are truthful.

Go to Search page | Go to Case Index page | Back to Top

�