A judge’s decision last week to approve Bank of America Corp.’s $8.5 billion megasettlement with mortgage-backed securities investors capped a long and bruising fight over the deal. But with so many zeroes at stake, high-profile challengers of the settlement aren’t ready to declare game over just yet. On Tuesday American International Group Inc. persuaded a state court judge in New York to temporarily hold off on dismissing the case so that the parties can figure out what claims against BofA are still viable.
The settlement relates to 530 MBS trusts that Countrywide Financial Corp. marketed to investors prior to the financial crisis. Investors allege that Countrywide, which BofA acquired in 2008, misrepresented the quality of the underlying home mortgages and therefore is obliged to repurchase them. A group of 22 institutional investors, including Blackrock Inc. and Metlife Inc., spearheaded the deal, which would be binding on all investors. The trustee for the MBS trusts, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., signed off on the agreement.
