Mutual Fund Industry Faces Claims

In a series of lawsuits recently filed nationwide, a group of investors says the nation's top mutual fund companies failed to collect or even make a claim on behalf of their funds' shareholders on billions of dollars in securities class-action settlements.

The lawsuits, filed by Dallas-based Baron & Budd, PC, and Little Rock, AR-
based Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams, LLP, say the mutual funds breached
their fiduciary duty to investor clients by not collecting the settlement
money.

"These mutual funds owned stock in hundreds of companies that reached
settlements in securities class-action lawsuits," says Randall K. Pulliam,
lead counsel for the investor plaintiffs and attorney at Baron & Budd. "As
stockholders, the mutual funds became class members themselves, but they were
also the only ones who could claim this money on behalf of their investor
customers. Although the process for collecting this money was simple, the
mutual funds simply didn't follow through."

More than 90 million Americans entrust their savings to mutual fund
directors and advisors. A majority of mutual funds invest in publicly traded
companies. In the mid to late 90s, the number of investor securities class-
action lawsuits against publicly traded companies skyrocketed, and many of
those claims were resolved through class-action settlements intended for
investors.

According to plaintiffs, 1,517 federal class actions were brought between
1996 and 2003 under the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934.

"The mutual fund industry has faced many scandals in recent years, but
possibly nothing of this magnitude," says plaintiff co-counsel J. Allen
Carney, a name partner in the Cauley Bowman firm. "By failing to claim their
fair share of these settlements, these mutual fund companies have violated the
trust given to them by millions of investors."

Investor plaintiffs have filed lawsuits in 11 states, including New York,
Illinois and Texas. Named among the 44 defendants are several giants of the
mutual fund industry, including Merrill Lynch, American Funds and Van Kampen.

For more information, call Randall Pulliam at 214.521.3605, or contact
Bruce Vincent at 800.559.4534, cellular 214.728.6747 or bruce@legalpr.com .