Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DOVER, Del. (AP) - The Delaware Supreme Court says former Countrywide shareholders can't pursue a federal lawsuit filed against leaders of the mortgage lender before its 2008 acquisition by Bank of America Corp.
Acting on a request by a California federal appeals court, the justices confirmed Tuesday that a "fraud exception" in Delaware law doesn't allow for the revival of a 2007 federal lawsuit. This exception to the Delaware law has never been applied.
The law requires continuous ownership of a company's stock for shareholders to pursue claims on behalf of a company, usually against officers and directors. But the shareholders didn't have that _ a California judge had ruled that the 2008 acquisition by Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America eliminated the Countrywide shareholders' standing to pursue their lawsuit.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
