BUSINESS BRIEFING / COURTS
Times Wire Reports
Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender acquired by Bank of America Corp., reached a preliminary settlement with employees who accused the company of withholding information about its financial health and causing the value of their retirement plan to drop.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers filed papers in federal court in Los Angeles indicating that an “agreement in principle” had been reached in the 2007 class-action lawsuit alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, a federal law that protects employee pension plans.
The filing announcing the deal with Calabasas-based Countrywide didn’t disclose financial terms.
