Securities

Insurance

Consumer

Antitrust

Securities

Other

Join the mailing list

February 1, 2010 – Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (“Coughlin Stoia”) and Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP (“Barroway Topaz”) announce that a class action has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of certain mortgage-backed securities sponsored by affiliates of Countrywide Financial Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (collectively, “Countrywide”) and related trusts (the “Issuing Trusts”), issued between 2005 and 2007. The case has been assigned a civil action number of 10-cv-00302-SJO-PJW and is pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiffs’ counsel, Darren Robbins of Coughlin Stoia at 800-449-4900 or 619-231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@csgrr.com, or Andrew Zivitz at Barroway Topaz at 888-299-7706, or via email at azivitz@btkmc.com. You can view a copy of the Complaint at http://www.btkmc.com/cases_new.php or http://www.csgrr.com/cases/cwalt/. You may also access the Complaint at the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

The Complaint alleges claims under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) as a class action on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the following certificates (the “Class” or “Plaintiffs”): Alternative Loan Trust Certificates issued by CWALT, Inc. (“CWALT”); CWABS Asset-Backed Trust Certificates issued by CWABS, Inc. (“CWABS”); CHL Mortgage Pass-Through Trust Certificates issued between 2005 and 2006 by CWMBS, Inc. (“CWMBS”); and CWHEQ Revolving Home Equity Loan Trusts and Home Equity Loan Trusts issued by, CWHEQ, Inc. (“CWHEQ”) (collectively referred to as the “Certificates”). The Complaint alleges that defendants issued the Certificates pursuant or traceable to the following registration statements (the “Registration Statements”) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”): 333-110343, 333-100418, 333-118926, 333-117949, 333-121249, 333-125164, 333-123167, 333-125963, 333-131591, 333-125902, 333-131662, 333-135846, 333-131630, 333-140958, 333-140960, 333-140962, 333-121378, 333-126790, 333-132375, 333-139891. The Certificates were then sold to Class members pursuant to certain prospectuses (the “Prospectus Supplements”), which also were filed with the SEC and incorporated by reference into the Registration Statements. More information about the Registration Statements and Certificates, including details of the individual Prospectus Supplements involved in this action, is contained in pages 13 through 52 of the Complaint, available at the web sites listed above. The Complaint charges that the Registration Statements and Prospectus Supplements issued in connection with the Certificates contained materially false and misleading statements and omitted material information in violation of Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act.

Specifically, the Complaint charges that Countrywide, certain officers and directors of CWALT, CWABS, CWMBS and CWHEQ, and certain investment banks, which served as underwriters of the Certificates, violated the Securities Act by issuing the Certificates pursuant to Registration Statements and Prospectus Supplements that misrepresented the quality of the underlying mortgages that had been pooled and placed in the issuing trusts. The Complaint alleges various misrepresentations and omissions as to the underwriting practices employed in originating the mortgages, the sufficiency of the collateral and the appraisal practices used to support the mortgages. As a result of the material misrepresentations and omissions in the Registration Statements and Prospectus Supplements, investors purchased securities that were far riskier than represented.

According to the Complaint, by mid-2007 the mortgages held by the Issuing Trusts and underlying the Certificates began suffering accelerating delinquencies and defaults. The defaults led to real estate foreclosures, which revealed that the properties underlying the mortgages were worth materially less than the loans issued to the borrowers, and the borrowers did not have sufficient financial wherewithal to cover the outstanding mortgage balances. The representations made in the Company's Prospectus Supplements were materially false and misleading because at the time of the Certificates offerings, Countrywide’s underwriting standards were not designed to evaluate a borrower’s ability to repay or the true value of the mortgaged property underlying the Certificates. These adverse factors were not revealed and/or adequately addressed in the offering documents.

The Complaint alleges that defendants could have – and should have – discovered the material misstatements and omissions in the Company's Prospectus Supplements prior to their filing with the SEC and distribution to the investing public. Instead, they failed to do so as a result of a negligent and inadequate due diligence investigation. Had Plaintiffs and the other members of the Class known the truth, they would not have purchased the Certificates, or they would not have purchased them at the inflated prices that were paid. Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of the Certificates issued between 2005 and 2007.

The Plaintiffs are represented by Coughlin Stoia and Barroway Topaz. Both law firms have expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience litigating actions involving violations of the Securities Act.

Coughlin Stoia, a 180-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Atlanta, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. The Coughlin Stoia Web site (www.csgrr.com) has more information about the firm.

Barroway Topaz prosecutes class actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country and is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world. For more information about Barroway Topaz please visit www.btkmc.com.