PUTNAM MUTUAL FUND MARKET TIMING CLASS ACTION
SETTLEMENT INFORMATION
This website
provides information about settlements in a class action in the federal
District Court for the District of Maryland that may affect claims asserted in that
case as well as other lawsuits against Putnam Mutual Funds, the companies who
managed and advised the funds, brokers and certain officers, directors,
trustees and employees of the funds, management and advisor companies and
brokers. The settled claims allege that: (a) the Putnam defendants failed to
disclose that certain fund shareholders engaged in rapid trading of fund shares
(referred to as “market timing”) and made false statements about market timing,
(b) certain brokerage companies facilitated or assisted market timing, and (c)
certain traders engaged in market timing. Plaintiffs alleged that market timing
caused detriment to shareholders who did not engage in rapid trading, including
those who have asserted claims in this and similar cases. The defendants deny
all of these allegations. In addition to the settlement with Putnam defendants
(as described in documents on this site), settlements have been reached with
those alleged to have engaged in market timing or facilitated such trading by
their customers: Canary Capital Partners, LLC, Canary Capital Partners, Ltd.,
Canary Investment Management, LLC, Edward Stern, Banc of America Securities LLC
and Prudential Securities Incorporated. Certain settled claims include those
brought against Canary Capital Partners, LLC, Canary Capital Partners, Ltd.,
Canary Investment Management, LLC, Edward Stern and Banc of America Securities
LLC in derivative actions such as the Zuber
case referenced below.
Key
documents about the settlement are available for review on this website. Click here for a full
explanation of the settlements, including your right to opt out, other options
and deadlines (the “Notice”). Any Class Member who requests to be excluded from
the Class must do so by sending a written request for exclusion to Class
Plaintiffs’ counsel by first class mail to the address listed in the Notice,
signed by the Class Member and providing all information called for in the
Notice, except that contrary to the Notice, Class Members are no longer
required to submit information concerning their holdings of shares in the
Putnam Funds, as is requested in the Notice. Such holdings information may be
submitted but is not required in order for a Class Member to exclude him(her)
from the Class.
Click here
for the Order of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
preliminarily approving the settlements.
Click here for the
settlement with the Putnam defendants, here
for the settlement with Prudential Securities, here for the
settlement with the Canary defendants and here
for the settlement with Banc of America Securities.
Click
here for Plaintiffs’
Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement, Plan of Allocation, Class
Certification, Award of Liaison Counsels’ Attorneys’ Fees and Reimbursement of
Expenses.
Click
here for the proposed
Order and Final Judgment. In addition, the Second Consolidated Amended
Complaint in the Saunders class
action is available here, and the
Court’s order granting summary judgment is available here.
The derivative complaint in Zuber is
available here.
Click here for the
Order and Final Judgment, approving the settlement, which was entered on
November 15, 2010.
Other
documents concerning the Case Nos. 04-cv-00560, 04-0564 and 04-MD-15863, Saunders,
et al. v. Putnam American Government Income Fund, et al., and Zuber v. Putnam Investment Management LLC
can be obtained via the District of Maryland’s Electronic Filing Service, PACER
or at the office of the Clerk of Courts.
Richard S.
Wayne
Strauss
& Troy Jean
M. Geoppinger
150 E.
Fourth St. 1513
Fourth &