Analysts are worried that Washington Mutual will be the next financial giant to fail, after its stock plunged to about $2 per share Monday and two of the three major ratings agencies downgraded it to junk status. Naturally, it got us thinking about which litigation departments stand to lose the most if WaMu collapses. We turned to Westlaw for some answers.
Sadly, given everything else that’s going on there, Heller Ehrman is near the top of the list, having handled 24 matters for the bank since 2003, including 12 in the last two years. Much of the work has involved defending the bank in wage and hour disputes, says Jonathan Hayden, a Heller partner. He declines to say whether the firm is worried about losing some pages in its book of business should WaMu fail. The firm also is defending WaMu in class action suits linked to the subprime mortgage crisis, including one brought by a Connecticut hedge fund that purchased $18 million in bonds backed by what turned out to be junk mortgages.
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