Huge swaths of the securities plaintiffs bar have their time and money tied up in class action suits against major issuers of mortgage-backed securities. But three years and change after the subprime meltdown, Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann is still the only plaintiffs firm to reach a settlement in any of the cases.

Amid the headlines generated by Thursday's $25 billion nationwide foreclosure settlement, the Justice Department reached a smaller deal with Bank of America over alleged Countrywide mortgage fraud that would normally garner front-page coverage of its own.