Report: School District Lawsuit Settlement Talks Begin
School district's legal counsel meeting with Stifel Financial Corp. and Royal Bank of Canada.
The legal counsel representing Whitefish Bay School District in a lawsuit has plans to engage in settlement talks with the financial institituions they claim bilked them out of money.
Whitefish Bay is one of five Wisconsin school districts – including Waukesha, West Allis-West Milwaukee, Kenosha and Kimberly – suing Stifel Financial Corp. and other financial institutions, alleging the districts were misled when making $200 million in investments, which have drastically decreased in value. The school districts estimated in January 2010 that the investments were worth less than $10 million.
According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Stephen Kravit, one of the attorneys representing the districts, said the schools are engaged in the mediation process and hope to arrive at a settlement.
The legal counsel for the school districts met with Stifel Financial Corp. and the Royal Bank of Canada in New York this month and asked a Milwaukee County circuit judge for time to continue those talks, according to the Journal-Sentinel.
In April, Patch reported the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gave notice to Stifel about the agency considering filing its own lawsuit.
Bob McBride
7:09 am on Sunday, July 31, 2011
Only in government will you find organizations that can lose 95% of their investment in a fund that others were walking away from because it smelled funny and that then turn around and float a bond for $21MM dollars worth of dee-luxe cafeterias and an overblown shrine to HS band practice. I have absolutely no pity for this school district or those who supported the building of these monstrosities when I hear them complaining about the effects of Madison imposed budget constraints.
Jennifer
2:37 pm on Monday, August 1, 2011
The board of directors is specifically chosen to act as guardians; the school districts and all of their taxpayers put their trust into these decision-makers. It is their JOB to do the research and handle the districts' money responsibly. And now they are spending more money on a lawsuit that both wastes taxpayers' money and compounds the districts' losses.