Judge Raps Plaintiffs Counsel, Dismisses Class Action Against Washington Mutual

Judge Raps Plaintiffs Counsel, Dismisses Class Action Against Washington Mutual - 5-18-2009

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 © 2001
Stanford Law School

2009 News and Press Releases

SEARCH

News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

DISMISSAL NEWS:

Judge Raps Plaintiffs Counsel, Dismisses Class Action Against Washington Mutual
Andrew Longstreth

The American Lawyer. May 18, 2009
_________________________________________________________________________

EXCERPT: Last year, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann filed a 388-page consolidated complaint on behalf of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in the Washington Mutual securities class action. It named various former WaMu officers and directors, underwriters and the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, alleging that they misled shareholders about the company's financial results. But whatever the complaint had in heft (388 pages!) it apparently lacked in substance, at least in the view of Seattle federal district court judge Marsha Pechman. On Friday Pechman dismissed without prejudice all of the plaintiffs' Exchange Act claims and many of the Securities Act claims. In her ruling, the judge described the plaintiffs' pleadings as "verbose" and "disorganized." "The Court remains mystified at counsel's failure to allege cohesive claims, submit helpful briefing, or prepare a response to the court's inquiry in advance of oral argument," Pechman wrote. "Plaintiffs' counsel cannot expect the court to engage in the necessary analysis when counsel is not prepared to do so." She even threatened to remove Bernstein Litowitz as lead counsel. "If Plaintiffs' counsel are unable to rectify the problems identified in this order when they file an amended complaint," the opinion says, "the court may be obligated to review whether counsel can adequately represent the proposed class." (We called Bernstein Litowitz partner Chad Johnson, but didn't hear back.) Pechman gave Bernstein Litowitz until June 15 to file an amended complaint.

Back to News page | Back to Archived News 2009 page | Back to Top

�