On October 6, 2008, Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP was appointed co-lead counsel in Luther, et al v. Countrywide Financial Corp., et al., currently pending in the Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County, the Hon. Emilie H. Elias presiding.

Following the appointment, BTKMC on behalf of the plaintiffs filed the Consolidated and Amended Complaint alleging that Countrywide Financial Corporation ("Countrywide") and various of its subsidiaries, officers and U.S. investment banks violated Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 by making materially false and misleading statements in over 450 prospectus supplements relating to the issuance of more than $300 billion in Subprime and Alt-A mortgage-backed securities. Specifically, plaintiffs allege the defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding: (1) the quality of the mortgage pools underlying the MBS, including the application of Countrywide's underwriting standards and the soundness of the appraisals used to arrive at the value of the underlying collateral; (2) the mortgages' loan-to-value ratios; and (3) what criteria was used to qualify borrowers for mortgages originated by Countrywide.

Countrywide's practices with respect to originating Subprime and Alt-A mortgages, which are at the heart of plaintiffs' case, also are under investigation by state and federal officials. In fact, in October 2008, Countrywide settled with 11 states' regulators on charges of predatory lending for $8.7 billion. Many of these cases continue against the individual defendants named by the states' regulators in complaints filed around the country.

On March 6, 2009, Defendants filed  several demurrers, the state court equivalent to a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim.  The parties completed briefing on Defendants’ demurrers on April 24, 2009.  Defendants’ demurrers are still pending before the state court.