INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 14, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maddox Hargett & Caruso, P.C. announces that opt-out information is now available in the Schwab YieldPlus class action lawsuit. In August, a California federal court certified a Charles Schwab YieldPlus lawsuit involving the Schwab YieldPlus Fund Select Shares (SWYSX) and the Schwab YieldPlus Investor Shares (SWYPX) as a class action lawsuit. Schwab YieldPlus Fund investors who are included in the "class" must now decide whether to remain in the class action lawsuit and be bound by its results or formally request exclusion (i.e. "opt out") if they intend to pursue an individual arbitration claim with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Investors who elect to opt out of the class action have until Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, to submit their opt-out requests. To do this, they must:
* Provide a written statement requesting exclusion from the Schwab YieldPlus class action lawsuit; * Sign and date the request and include your mailing address; and * The written request must be received by the Notice Administrator no later than Dec. 28, 2009. The address to mail the opt-out request is: Schwab Corp. Secs. Litigation Exclusion, c/o Gilardi & Co. LLC, P.O. Box 808061, Petaluma, CA 94975-8061.
Additional opt-out information, as well as details about the Schwab YieldPlus class action lawsuit, can be found on the Web site, http://www.hbsslawsecurities.com/YieldPlus, in a PDF document titled October 12, 2009, Notice of Pendency.
"Charles Schwab marketed and sold the Schwab YieldPlus Funds as a safe and conservative cash investment alternative to investors. Instead, the evidence shows that the funds contained more than 45% of risky and toxic mortgage- and asset-backed securities, which exposed investors to greater risks and the potential for substantial financial losses. This information was never disclosed to investors," says Steven B. Caruso, an attorney whose law firm Maddox Hargett & Caruso, P.C. has successfully represented several investors in their claims against Charles Schwab and the YieldPlus Funds.
Caruso adds that investors with significant financial losses in their Schwab YieldPlus investments need to carefully consider whether they remain in the Schwab class action lawsuit or submit a request for exclusion, which will allow them to pursue a separate individual FINRA arbitration claim.
"For some investors, class action representation in the YieldPlus case can be an attractive legal option when individual financial losses are small such that the investor may not have an economic interest in pursuing the case on his own. However, investors who sustained significant losses should strongly consider pursuing their rights on an individual basis," Caruso says.
Opt-out requests for the Schwab YieldPlus class action must be received by the class action administrator no later than Dec. 28, 2009. According to the court notice, investors will no longer be able to request exclusion after that date.
For more information about opting out of the Charles Schwab YieldPlus class action lawsuit, please contact us at 866-827-6537.
In 2007, the law firm of Maddox, Hargett & Caruso, P.C., joined an association of three other law firms to assist investors who suffered financial losses in the Schwab YieldPlus Funds and other subprime mortgage-related investments. The laws firms include: Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari of Beverly Hills, California; David P. Meyer & Associates Co., L.P.A. of Columbus, Ohio; and Page Perry, LLC, of Atlanta, Georgia.
Additional information is available at http://www.subprimelosses.com/charles-schwab.php or by contacting an attorney below.