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Wachovia suits dismissed
Winston-Salem Journal (NC) - Friday, February 25, 2011
Author: RICHARD CRAVER ; JOURNAL REPORTER ; Winston-Salem Journal
A judge has dismissed two shareholder lawsuits against Wachovia Corp., including one in Forsyth County, in which the plaintiffs claimed they were misled by management during the bank’s collapse in 2008.

John Jolly Jr., the chief special Superior Court judge for complex business cases in N.C. Business Court, dismissed separate cases Wednesday that had been filed by five plaintiffs in Forsyth and three in Mecklenburg County.

The lawsuits were filed Oct. 1, 2009 — two days after the stunning announcement that Citigroup was going to buy Wachovia and nine days before Wells Fargo & Co. beat out Citigroup’s offer and bought Wachovia with the blessing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte, estimated that about $1 billion in shareholder value vanished in the Carolinas from the Wachovia collapse.

Plath said he was not surprised by the judge’s decision.

“Basically, the Business Court is concluding that there’s no compelling reason that the plaintiffs should be treated any differently from any of Wachovia ‘s other shareholders, and we all lost a bunch of money from our equity experience at Wachovia ,” he said.

Both lawsuits had as defendants Wachovia and Wells Fargo, as well as Ken Thompson, the former chairman and chief executive of Wachovia , and Robert Steel , who succeeded Thompson as chief executive and was in charge when it was sold to Wells Fargo.

Also named as defendants were Thomas Wurtz, its former chief financial officer, and Donald Truslow, its former chief risk officer, who left as Wachovia declined in 2008.

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http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2011/2011-257.htm

Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2011

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