Dear Zhivago: What else could go wrong? Well, I do not know how many suits FTU has against it, but earnings for one of these quarters could get wacked if FTU's intended appeal is turned down (or whatever is the correct terminology in legal parlance):
Thursday July 27 1:59 AM ET
First Union Hit With $350M
Judgment
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia jury has returned
a $350 million judgment against First Union Corp.
(NYSE:FTU - news), agreeing that a bank now owned by
First Union misappropriated $1.7 million from a
customer's account, but the bank maintains it acted
lawfully and plans to appeal.
[snip]
Wednesday's award includes $1.7 million in direct
damages, $13.4 million in compensatory damages, and
$337.5 million in punitive damages. Large punitive
awards from juries are often reduced by judges.
``They got caught in a major cover-up, and they got caught lying on the stand,'' said
Maurice Mitts of the Philadelphia law firm Frey, Petrakis, Deeb & Blum, which
represented Pioneer.
First Union plans to appeal.
``First Union is very disappointed in the verdict and believes that its predecessor,
CoreStates Bank N.A., acted lawfully in all respects,'' bank spokeswoman Barbara
Nate said.
[snip]
Wednesday's award is about the same as First Union's monthly profits on its banking
and investment operations.
[snip]
dailynews.yahoo.com
Lynn |
