Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[kthomp19]

is there any chance that settlement with plaintiffs could benefit JUST plaintiffs and the rest of us get screwed?

Absolutely. In fact, I would be surprised by the opposite; why pay off people that they don't have to? A few suits, like Wazee, sought class certification for its plaintiffs but I don't think Sweeney ever certified them. I also don't think that she refused to, she just hasn't gotten to that point yet.

It shouldn't be too difficult to buy off the small plaintiffs. The main big money plaintiffs are Berkowitz (100% prefs) and Ackman (38% prefs). Giving Ackman enough of a win on his prefs to offset his losses or lack of gains on his commons could be enough to get him to settle. The prefs seem pretty bulletproof in this regard, the commons not so much.