Excerpt: "In the latest chapter of one of the largest securities class action settlements on record, Ernst & Young LLP Dec. 17, 1999 agreed to pay $335 million to Cendant Corp. shareholders to settle a lawsuit that accused the New York accounting firm of negligence.

The agreement, presented in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, is the largest recorded amount paid by an accounting firm in a securities class action case, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case. It brings to $3.1675 billion the amount to be received by CalPERS, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and the New York City pension funds to settle their assertions of negligence.