This class action alleges violations of the Securities Act arising from Bear Stearns & Company, Inc.'s ("BSC") sale of mortgage pass-through certificates using false and misleading offering documents. The offering documents contained false and misleading statements related to, inter alia, (1) the underwriting guidelines used to originate the mortgage loans underlying the certificates; (2) the accuracy of the appraisals for the properties underlying the certificates; (3) the amount and quality of the credit enhancement which supported the loan pools; and (4) the credit ratings of the certificates. The Defendants in the case include BSC, Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities I ("BSABS") and Structured Asset Mortgage Investments II, Inc. ("SAMI") (the BSC subsidiaries that issued the Certificates) and various BSABS and SAMI officers.
On December 23, 2009, the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain issued an order consolidating all previously-filed Bear Stearns pass-through cases under the caption In re Bear Stearns Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Litigation, Master file No. 08-Civ. 8093 (LTS) (KNF). Concurrently, Judge Swain appointed BLB&G client the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi and the New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund as co-lead plaintiffs and appointed BLB&G and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC to serve as co-lead counsel. On February 19, 2010, Lead Plaintiffs filed the Second Consolidated Class Action Complaint, and on April 16, 2010, Defendants filed motions to dismiss. Lead Plaintiffs opposed the motions on June 15, 2010.
On September 29, 2010, the Court granted Lead Plaintiffs leave to amend the Second Amended Complaint and denied Defendants' motion to dismiss with leave to renew. On October 29, 2010, Plaintiffs filed the Third Amended Complaint and on December 3, 2010, Defendants moved to dismiss. On January 26, 2011, Lead Plaintiffs' filed their opposition to the MTD, and on February 24, 2011 Defendants' filed their reply. There is currently no hearing date set.
