Failed Financial Institution

Share

Defense counsel retained Cornerstone Research in a Resolution Trust Corporation lawsuit against the former officers and directors of a savings and loan, in which the plaintiff claimed that the defendants had imprudently conceived and directed the institution’s diversification strategy.

Defense counsel retained Cornerstone Research in a Resolution Trust Corporation lawsuit against the former officers and directors of a savings and loan, in which the plaintiff claimed that the defendants had imprudently conceived and directed the institution’s diversification strategy. Cornerstone Research and economist Dan Brumbaugh evaluated the economic conditions facing the savings and loan at the time the diversification decisions were made. This analysis showed that the strategy was both reasonable and encouraged by regulations. We developed a model that demonstrated that the savings and loan would have become insolvent much earlier had it continued a traditional lending strategy. We also worked with Professor Robert Edelstein of the University of California, Berkeley, to evaluate the real estate markets into which the institution diversified and showed that the lending decisions were justified given demographic and property-specific market conditions. The case settled.

Case Expert

Robert H. Edelstein

Professor Emeritus,
Maurice Mann Chair in Real Estate,
Co-Chair, Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics,
Haas School of Business,
University of California, Berkeley