According to the docket, on August 13, 2004, the Court entered the Order of Final Approval of Settlement, Plan of Allocation, Certification of Class, and Award of Attorneys' Fees and Reimbursement. The case is closed.

Earlier, on October 24, 2003, the Court entered the Order of Dismissal by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson dismissing the action without prejudice. By the Order, the Court reserved jurisdiction for 60 days to permit any party to move to reopen the action, for good cause shown, or to submit and file a stipulated form of final judgment. The Court further extended the Court’s retention of jurisdictions in several Orders entered in December, February, and April before the Plaintiff filed a Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement on May 10, 2004. According to the Notice Of Pendency, the proposed Settlement created a fund in the amount of $6,325,000 in cash.

The original Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants failed to make adequate disclosures or take adequate reserves concerning litigation filed in 1993 in California state court known as Western MacArthur Co. et al. v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., et al, Case No. 721595-7 (consolidated with Case No. 828101-2, Superior Court of California, Alameda County) (the "Western MacArthur litigation"). Plaintiff claims that although trial of the Western MacArthur litigation commenced in approximately March 2002, the Company first disclosed the existence of the litigation on or about May 15, 2002, but did not disclose or quantify the amount or general magnitude of potential exposure to liability which St. Paul might suffer as a result of the litigation, nor did the Company increase its reserves at that time. On June 3, 2002, the Company announced that a settlement had been reached whereby St. Paul would pay almost $1 billion to satisfy the claims reflected in the litigation, although the Company's SEC filings stated that as of December 31, 2001, the Company's net reserves for asbestos claims was only $367 million. The Complaint charges that the Company tried to disguise the impact of the Western MacArthur litigation settlement by focusing on the alleged after-tax impact of the litigation and falsely claiming that $150 million of the litigation payments could be charged to the Company's reserves, and that a subsequent SEC filing by the Company reflected St. Paul's failure to take adequate reserves for its potential liability in the litigation. News of the Western MacArthur litigation settlement caused the price of the Company's stock to decline during the Class Period from a high of $49.20 on November 5, 2001 to a low of $34.65 on July 9, 2002, the last day of the Class Period.