Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) sent a letter to the U.S. District Court asking that 15 civil shareholder lawsuits against the company which were pending to be heard by Judge Jed Rakoff, who famously belittled Bank of America in the case over its Merrill Lynch takeover, be randomly assigned to judges on the court.
Judge Rakoff famously rejected a $30 million settlement between Bank of America and the SEC in a case involving misleading shareholders about bonuses which were paid prior to the company’s merger with Merrill Lynch. Rakoff reluctantly approved a second $150 million settlement agreement in February, but commented publicly that it was “half-baked justice at best.”
After drafting the request letter to U.S. District Judge Denny Chin on April 22nd, Judge Loretta Preska, chief judge of the U.S. district court, ended up giving the cases to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Preska commented that she did not recall Bank of America’s letter and that it wasn’t an influencing factor in her decision. “I don’t recall seeing it; I don’t recall hearing of it,” she said to the WSJ.
However, the plaintiffs in the consolidated securities cases against Bank of America, which include Ohio’s State Teachers Retirement System and Ohio’s Public Employees Retirement System, said that Bank of America’s April 22nd request was an attempt to “influence the selection of a judge” and that the action was “wholly improper”
