NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Stull, Stull & Brody and Weiss & Lurie, Plaintiffs' Lead Counsel announce the proposed settlement of the class action, Thomas Levitan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. John B. McCoy, Richard D. Lehmann, Michael J. McMennamin and Bank One Corporation, No 00 C 5096 (the "Litigation"). The Class is defined as: "All persons and entities who acquired their shares of Bank One Corporation ("Bank One") common stock in exchange for their First Commerce Corporation ("First Commerce Corporation") common stock pursuant to the Registration Statement and Merger Proxy/Prospectus, in connection with the Merger between Bank One and First Commerce on June 12, 1998, excluding (a) all persons who sold their stock prior to August 24, 1999; (b) Defendants; (c) any entity in which a Defendant has a controlling interest or is part or subsidiary of, or is controlled by Bank One; and (d) the directors, officers, affiliates, legal representatives, heirs, predecessors, successors and assigns of any of the Defendants."
With respect to the paragraph above, "persons" who sold shares of Bank One common stock acquired in the Merger are excluded from the Class only to the extent they sold all such common stock before August 24, 1999. Persons and entities who sold fewer than all shares before August 24, 1999, remain in the Class. With respect to subparagraph (c) above, the First Commerce Corporation Retirement Plan, First Commerce Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, First Commerce Corporation Retirement Benefits Restoration Plan, or the successors to those plans, are, to the extent of their qualifying ownership of Bank One common stock, included in the Class. With respect to subparagraph (d) above, the reference to "officers" is a reference to persons who were officers of Bank One as of June 12, 1998.
You are hereby notified, pursuant to an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, dated November 3, 2005, that a Hearing will be held on March 16, 2006 at 8:45 a.m. before the Honorable Wayne R. Andersen for the purposes of determining: (1) whether a proposed Settlement of the above Litigation for the principal amount of Thirty-Nine Million Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($39,900,000), plus accrued interest, should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate; (2) whether an Order of Final Judgment and Dismissal approving the Settlement and dismissing the Litigation on the merits and with prejudice should be entered; (3) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation is fair and reasonable; and (4) whether the motion for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses and costs and any motion for an award to Lead Plaintiffs are reasonable and should be approved.
This Litigation is a class action under the federal securities laws concerning the Merger of First Commerce Corporation and Bank One in June of 1998. Plaintiffs allege that Bank One and the other Defendants made material misstatements and omissions in connection with that transaction. Defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing, deny any violations of the securities laws, maintain that they acted properly in all respects and make no admission of fault, liability or damages in connection with the proposed Settlement or otherwise.
If you are a member of the Class described above, your rights may be affected by the Litigation and the settlement thereof. If you have not yet received the detailed Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action, Hearing on Proposed Settlement, Attorneys' Fee Petition, and Petition for Award to Lead Plaintiffs, including the Plan of Allocation and a Proof of Claim and Release form (the "Notice"), which supplies additional information about this Litigation, deadlines for taking certain actions and the proposed Settlement, you may obtain copies of these documents by contacting the Claims Administrator at First Commerce Corporation Shareholder Litigation, c/o Berdon Claims Administration LLC, P.O. Box 9014, Jericho, New York 11753-8914, Telephone: 800-766-3330, Fax: 516-931-0810, Website: www.berdonllp.com/claims.
In addition, the pleadings and other papers of public record in this case may be inspected during normal business hours at the Office of the Clerk of the Court, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, 219 South Dearborn, Chicago, Illinois, 60604. Inquiries, other than requests for copies of the Notice, may be made to Lead Counsel: Edwin J. Mills, Stull, Stull & Brody, 6 E. 45th Street, New York, NY 10017, or Joseph Weiss, Weiss & Lurie, 551 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10176.
To participate in recovery under the Settlement, if it is approved, you must timely and properly submit a Proof of Claim and Release form postmarked no later than May 15, 2006. If you are a Class Member and do not timely and properly submit a Proof of Claim and Release, you will not share in the Settlement, but you will be bound by the Order of Final Judgment and Dismissal dismissing your claims.
This is only a summary and does not fully describe all aspects of the Litigation or your rights. The statements herein are subject to and controlled by the more detailed provisions of the Stipulation of Settlement and related orders, exhibits and documents.
Please do not contact the Court or the Clerk's Office.