Tuesday September 4, 3:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Bank Plus Corporation
Bank Plus Corporation Announces Denial Of Class Certification In Purported Securities Class Action Litigation
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank Plus Corporation (Nasdaq: BPLS - news; ``Bank Plus'') the holding company for Fidelity Federal Bank, FSB, (``Fidelity'' or the ``Bank''), announced today that the Los Angeles County Superior Court has denied a motion for class certification in the pending securities fraud action filed by the Howard Gunty Profit Sharing Plan and Robert E. Yelin stemming from Fidelity's previously terminated credit card operations.
The Superior Court reconfirmed its earlier finding that the proposed class representative, the Gunty Plan, was a ``professional plaintiff'' and thus an inappropriate class representative. The Court found that plaintiffs' counsel, Weiss & Yourman and Stull, Stull & Brody, controlled the litigation, which the Court characterized as ``abusive,'' through the use of a professional plaintiff who merely lent his name to the lawsuit with little or no knowledge of the case and who had been represented by one or both of these firms in approximately 20 other lawsuits.
Mark K. Mason, Chief Executive Officer of Bank Plus, said, ``We are very pleased at this result. This decision is a victory against abuse of the legal process that costs the shareholders of corporate America so much in terms of capital and management attention.''
Barring a reversal on any appeal that the plaintiffs may elect to file, the Court's ruling ends the class action element of the lawsuit. The Superior Court did, however, rule that the lawsuit could be amended to add LaSalle Financial Partners, L.P. as a named plaintiff for its individual claims only, but not as a class representative. LaSalle retained the Gunty Plan's lawyers as well as Foley & Lardner in litigating this matter.
Mr. Mason added, ``The allegations of improper conduct set forth in LaSalle's proposed complaint are without merit, and we intend to vigorously contest them.''
Bank Plus Corporation is the holding company for Fidelity Federal Bank, FSB, which offers a broad range of consumer financial services, including demand and time deposits and mortgage loans. In addition, through its affiliate Gateway Investment Services, Inc., a NASD-registered broker/dealer, Fidelity provides customers of the Bank with investment products, including mutual funds, annuities and insurance. Fidelity operates through 29 full-service branches located in Los Angeles and Orange counties in Southern California.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this release, including without limitation statements containing the words ``believes,'' ``anticipates,'' ``intends,'' ``expects,'' ``projects'' and words of similar import, constitute ``forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Bank Plus and Fidelity to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors are referred to in Bank Plus's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as of December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as of June 30, 2001. A number of other factors may have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial performance.
These factors include a national or regional economic slowdown or recession which increases the risk of defaults and credit losses; the impact of changes in the availability or price of electrical or other forms of energy in the Company's markets; movements in market interest rates that reduce our margins or the fair value of the financial instruments the Bank holds; restrictions imposed on the Bank's operations by regulators such as a prohibition on the payment of dividends to Bank Plus; failure of regulatory authorities to issue approvals or non-objection to material transactions involving the Bank; actions by the Bank's regulators or other governmental agencies having jurisdiction over the Bank that could adversely affect the Bank's regulatory compliance status or capital levels; an increase in the number of customers seeking protection under the bankruptcy laws which increases the amount of charge-offs; the effects of fraud or other contract breaches by third parties or customers; the effectiveness of the Company's collection efforts and the outcome of pending and future litigation. Given these uncertainties, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. Bank Plus disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements included herein to reflect future events or developments.
SOURCE: Bank Plus Corporation
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