Alex Widner stood outside Dowry Costumes & More on Floyd Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon, pointing to the heavens and beyond.
Nobody could tell it was him.
Widner was clothed head to toe in a "Checked" pattern Morphsuit, the hottest Halloween trend teasing trick-or-treaters across Siouxland.
He noticed Morphsuits on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," a TV show he watched on FX. The suits caught his eye, and he suggested them to his mother, Diane Widner, as a possibility for Halloween at Dowry Costumes & More, the store she owns and operates.
Widner and Trish Jefferson, Dowry's assistant manager, went to market over the summer and were hooked. The body suits might be a perfect look. They don't reveal one's identity.
"They're sold by height, not weight," Jefferson said. "You can drink through them and nobody can tell who you are."
Shoppers in their teens and 20-somethings have found the look agreeable in fall 2011. Hundreds, in fact, have crashed football game tailgates this season. Widner's "Check" pattern contrasts to Morphsuits that are entirely green, blue, orange, or just about any other color.
There's the Pumpkin Morph, the Vampire Morph, a Purple Witch Morph, a Morph called "Splash," a Ninja Morph, and those showing skeletons, Frankenstein, tye-die and more.
Party-goers can wear one straight, or dress it up with a wig, hat or glasses.
Solid Morphsuits at Dowry Costumes & More start at $59.99. Patterns come in the $80 range.
An off-brand can be purchased for about $40. The Dowry was out of a limited supply of the off-brand on Wednesday.
"The off-brand is cheaper," Diane Widner said. "But the weight of the fabric is the same."
Diane Widner ramped up interest in the Morphsuits by having her son sit outside the store while sporting one. Alex took a seat and read, his vision not impaired by the costume. Another Dowry employee donned a skeleton Morphsuit, plugged in her iPod and danced as cars sped past.
"You should see people slow down and look at them," Diane Widner said. "It's really pretty funny."
While it's Iowa Caucus season, Widner says locals aren't "scaring up" much in the political realm. Sure, there will be a few Sarah Palin look-alikes this year, but not many. At least not by judging Dowry visitors.
"There doesn't seem to be a lot of political stuff this year," she said. "And that may be OK. We do have an Obama mask and we still carry a Palin wig.
"We're kind of at the mercy of our suppliers," she added, noting suppliers attempt to strike the public where it itches.
"Zombies are big again this year," Jefferson said. "The Smurfs had a summer movie and they've been big this year."
Jefferson helped a group of costume seekers find cast accouterments for Gilligan's Island and the Village People this week. Those groups were celebrities three to four decades ago.
"We've done a lot of 1970s stuff; disco characters are big," Jefferson said. "And each year brings out the Batman, Robin and Ninja Turtles."
Are stars of yesterday coming back full circle? Not always, Widner cautioned.
"I tell people about Sonny and Cher and they're wondering who I'm talking about," Widner said with a laugh, adding that more are now familiar with Chaz Bono, the child of Sonny and Cher, the one currently basking in the glow of "Dancing with the Stars."
Speaking of something old-that's-new-again, another full-body variation has returned. Sioux City native Nichole Brown, 29, shared a photo with the Journal that shows her in a full-body blue Crayola Crayon suit for the 1985 Halloween celebration.
Her mother, Carol Robison, made the costume. "Blue was my favorite color at the time," said Nichole, who was 3 1/2 in October 1985. "I don't remember trick-or-treating that year, but I remember I loved coloring. Apparently, that was the inspiration for my costume."
It wouldn't be the last blue Crayola Robison would sew. Just a few weeks ago she made a big blue Crayola (think box of eight) for a cousin who teaches kindergarten in California.
"I didn't know we were so trendy back then," Nichole Brown said with a laugh.
They were. The full-body Crayola Crayons are now mass produced. Yup, they're also featured at Dowry Costumes & More. fmlht111025
TRENDS: Halloween 'morphs' into body suits
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I'm guessing you've never heard of the man who assured us that evil foreign owners are plotting to scrap relegation and promotion.
Well, in 2008, Richard Bevan was appointed chief executive of the League Managers Association (after a decade working for the Professional Cricketers Association) with a brief to raise its profile.
He managed a publicity breakthrough this year when he told the BBC that "key stakeholders" in English football wanted to scrap the January transfer window. He didn't quote anyone, or offer evidence that "stakeholders" had been beating down the door of his business park office near Leamington Spa. He just claimed that all the major players supported his view.
Buoyed by the smattering of recognition, he had another go at headline-grabbing this week, playing the anti-foreign ownership card on the back of the overseas TV rights kerfuffle.
"There are a number of overseas-owned clubs already talking about bringing about the avoidance of promotion and relegation in the Premier League," he told a business conference.
Again, no quotes or corroborating evidence that any owner had raised the subject since Bolton's Phil Gartside (who's as foreign as tripe and onions) did two years ago.
Still, it didn't stop the usual suspects shrieking like a Peeler's whistle in a London pea-souper. Harry Redknapp claimed foreign owners will "ruin the Premier League" (neatly forgetting that Spurs are run by a Bahamas-based firm) and Dave Whelan warned that if it ever came about he'd remove Wigan from the top flight (forgetting he's doing a fine job ensuring that happens naturally).
The Premier League's Richard Scudamore then weighed in, rubbishing Bevan's accusations as unfounded and "nonsensical" and vowing promotion and relegation were here to stay.
I don't know about you, but I'm sick of businessmen hogging headlines to tell us where our game is heading.
These Suits pose as footballing sages handing down wisdom "from the inside." Telling us the facts of life about a game they believe only began when the Premier League was formed.
What they forget is many of us were watching English football years before they dreamed up ways of breaking up the old order and creaming off the riches.
We know relegation and promotion works because of the original 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, seven play in today's Premier League: Everton, Bolton, Blackburn, Stoke, Wolves, Aston Villa and West Brom. And three others - Burnley, Derby and Preston aren't too far away from it.
Which is amazing when you look at top leagues in other countries, all set up after 1888, many of whose founder members long ago ceased to exist.
English football works today, not because of "visionaries" at the the FA, Premier League, LMA or PFA, but because of the way it was set up 123 years ago. By tapping deep into the loyalty of working-class communities, making clubs such an integral part of their identity, they would never go away.
No other league in any other sport in the world has been better at self-regulation over the past one-and-a-quarter centuries.
Because no other league has so many devoted "stakeholders" at the bottom, warning those at the top how far they can go with their money-making scams.
We should be proud of this 123-year heritage. The fact that so many of those grand old clubs are today exactly where they were when they started, proves despite the recent irreversible scarring done to the game by money, power still rests with the majority of grass-roots fans.
Not the headline-grabbing, paymaster-pleasing, scare-mongering Men in Suits who most of us, thankfully, have never heard of.
In a recent episode of Neighbours a teenager said the following words: "Milan Jovanovic is one of the greatest soccer players in the world." ( see You Tube for proof ). Which backs up a long-standing theory of mine that Aussies get very confused with football issues.
Mark Viduka thought Who Ate All The Pies? was a pre-match ritual. Harry Kewell saw nothing wrong in demanding to play every week in his favourite position - flat on the treatment table.
And whenever Mark Bosnich crossed the white line his mind was so muddled he'd contemplate going back and snorting it. fmlht111025
We're too strong to let the suits kill promotion and relegation
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CHARLESTON - The controversial redistricting plan passed by the West Virginia Legislature this summer now has a fight on its hands.
A lawsuit was filed against the new redistricting plan with the West Virginia Supreme Court early Friday morning by Jennifer Scragg Karr, Esq., of Winfield, who represents county commissions from both Mason and Putnam counties.
Karr deemed the new plan "unconstitutional" in her argument filed with the supreme court. She states if the new redistricting law isn't struck down, "the people of Putnam and Mason Counties, and many others similarly situated across the State of West Virginia will be forced to endure another 10 years of inadequate, unequal representation in the West Virginia House of Delegates."
The suits states the people of Mason County have been denied their own delegate for approximately 20 years and under the new plan, are still guaranteed none. Karr says it's difficult to ascertain the reasoning behind the plan and hence it may be "irrational, arbitrary or capricious" - adding, although Mason County has sufficient population for its own delegate and Putnam County has the population to support three delegates, both counties are divided and forced to share representation.
The suit states for nearly 20 years, "Mason County has been divided in half to create portions of two delegate districts even though it has had the population to support a delegate all on its own. Its people have been outnumbered by Putnam County residents in the past two reapportionment plans and it has become generally known that because of it, Mason County cannot elect its own delegate. With the new apportionment of House Bill 201, Putnam County is now placed in a similar situation."
In addition, the filing argues Putnam County Clerk and Putnam County Commission will now require more ballot styles at taxpayers' expense every election because instead of being divided into three delegate districts, Putnam County will comprise five. Also, the people of Putnam County who are entitled to three representatives in the House of Delegates are now only guaranteed one.
Karr reminds the court that "approximately 10 years ago, after the previous delegate apportionment of 2001, the Mason County Commission petitioned this Court to prevent another 10 years of inadequate representation in the West Virginia House of Delegates. The Court refused to hear the Writ. Consequently, Mason County has spent the past 10 years without any of its residents representing it in the West Virginia House of Delegates. "
In addition to asking the honorable court to declare the new redistricting plan in violation of the state's constitution, the suit asks the case be expedited so the court "may do substantial justice before the filing period for candidates to the House of Delegates begins on Jan. 9, 2012." fmlht111025
Mason, Putnam counties file suit over redistricting
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In recent months, several leading technology companies with a history of building advanced data centers have hired Digital Realty Trust to build their new facilities. Digital Realty will build custom data centers for colocation provider Equinix in northern Virginia and Seattle and for storage vendor NetApp in Hillsboro, Oregon.
The announcements are a sign of growing momentum for Digital Realty's build-to-suit data center business, in which the company has sought to move beyond its core business of building turn-key "wholesale" data center space.
"Customers are continuing to outsource their data center requirements and are looking for a number of flexible alternatives to meet their long term needs," said Michael F. Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty Trust. "As a result, we have seen a significant increase in demand for our Build-to-Suit solution. The Build-to-Suit solution provides each customer with a customized data center facility to meet their long term IT infrastructure needs."
Favorable Supply Chain Economics
The build-to-suit offering allows Digital Realty (DLR) to build larger projects than the 1 to 2 megawatt pods that it leases in its turn-key business. Build-to-suit data centers also have a better risk profile than wholesale multi-tenant projects, which are typically built either on a speculative basis or based on a commitment from an anchor customer. In either scenario, the project goes forward before it is entirely leased.
The build-to-suit approach also allows customers to take advantage of the favorable supply chain economics developed by Digital Realty Trust, which is the world's largest operator of data center space with more than 17 million square feet of space in 100 properties in 30 markets throughout Europe, North America, Singapore and Australia. With that portfolio and its active construction and maintenance programs, the company is able to buy in bulk and
Over the past two years, Digital Realty Trust (DLR) has been expanding its product offerings to target the market for build-to-suit data centers. After launching the initiative in the U.S. in early 2010, the company expanded it internationally earlier this year.
Build-to-Suit is Largest Leasing Component
In the third quarter of 2011, Digital Realty leased 96,000 square feet of Build-to-Suit space at an average annual rental rate of $112 a square foot, compared to 54,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of approximately $164 per square foot (see full details in the company's leasing update for the quarter, which was released Wednesday). The wholesale turn-key offering has been Digital Realty's most popular offering in recent years, but over the past year there has been growth in its Powered Base Building product (undeveloped space with the power and fiber connectivity already in place) as well as build-to-suit projects.
"We have designed a suite of high quality, flexible, and cost effective solutions ranging from Powered Base Buildings and Turn-Key Datacenters to customized Build-to-Suits and scalable data centers for growing companies," said Foust. "When combined with our financial strength and global footprint, we are uniquely positioned to meet both local and multinational enterprise customers' requirements across industry sectors." fmlht111025
Digital Sees Momentum for Build-to-Suit Business
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AUBREY - The school district has announced it will join more than 270 other districts across Texas in a lawsuit fighting the school finance system.
Aubrey school board members on Wednesday voted unanimously to support a lawsuit led by the Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition calling for the state Legislature to provide a quality education for the state's schoolchildren and treat taxpayers fairly in the process.
Also listed as plaintiffs on the original petition are seven school districts, two taxpayers and one parent.
Filed Oct. 11 in Travis County's 200th District Court, the lawsuit, which lists defendants as education Commissioner Robert Scott, Comptroller Susan Combs and the Texas State Board of Education, calls for equality in how state funds are distributed to school districts.
Plaintiffs say that differences in the state funding system give "property-wealthy districts unconstitutionally greater access to educational dollars," whereas poorer districts, even those with higher tax rates, are unable to access the same education tax dollars as districts with more valuable property.
The $4 billion cut to public education approved during the recent 82nd Legislature has put more of a burden on property-poor districts than on the property-wealthy districts, according to the suit.
"No school is going to survive the way it is," Aubrey Superintendent James Monaco told the Aubrey school board last week.
Supporting the lawsuit seems to be all that's left to do, he said.
"We're going to be in it, and I feel we're going to win it," he said.
Committing to the lawsuit will cost Aubrey about $2,300 in legal services, or $1 per weighted average daily attendance, Monaco said.
The more districts that join the suit, the better its chances are when it comes before a judge, he said.
The Little Elm school district also announced last week it would join the suit.
School officials there called the current state education funding formula inequitable.
"Our board and community believe that our students deserve the same opportunities as other students in the state. We hope by joining the coalition more districts will come together in support of equity," Superintendent Lynne Leuthard said in a prepared statement.
As of Friday evening, 273 school districts had pledged their support toward the suit, according to Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Equity Center, the Austin-based education research and advocacy organization that organized the coalition. The overwhelming support is more than anyone could have expected, he said. Pierce said he expects 300 districts to join the suit.
"I think schools have just come to the point where they feel the Legislature has not done what they should and that this is the only responsible choice they have on behalf of the [Texas] schoolchildren and taxpayers," Pierce said.
Three similar lawsuits are also being considered by other groups, Pierce said.
Several other area districts are considering joining in one of the suits.
Denton school district spokeswoman Sharon Cox said that school board members plan to continue discussing school finance litigation at their Tuesday meeting.
The discussion hasn't been brought up before the school boards in Argyle and Krum, but school officials say they expect it will take place either next month or at future board meetings.
"I would be surprised if we don't join," Krum Superintendent Mike Davis said in an e-mail. "Schools are going to be in trouble soon if something doesn't change." fmlht111025
Area school districts join suit
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Corporate money could help the government fight an antitrust battle for the first time, depending on the outcome of an argument in court next week.
AT&T and Sprint spent the month filing dueling legal briefs on whether corporate competitors can join the Justice Department's case against AT&T's proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. A federal judge will hear oral arguments on Monday.
Sprint's suit could provide the Justice Department's lawyers all of the legal resources of a billionaire corporation and allow Sprint's lawyers to strategize with the government on everything from evidence to arguments.
That would be a first.
Never in the history of modern antitrust has a corporation joined the federal government in an antitrust battle, raising the question of how much corporate money can give the government an edge in its such battles.
Sprint, for its part, has tried to make this kind of effort seem old hat. It points to 13 cases during the modern antitrust era in which competitors filed suit on antitrust grounds.
But of the six cases in which the companies actually were permitted to sue, none involved a corporation entering a federal government suit. Largely small regional suits in comparison with the markets in play in the AT&T merger, some of the cases didn't even involve government regulators; rather, they originated when one company decided to sue another one.
Those cases could be of huge significance in determining whether Sprint has standing to sue. But their dissimilarity to this situation underscores that Sprint would be forging a new kind of alliance here.
It's no wonder, then, that the Justice Department seems conflicted on the request by Sprint and C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South) to join its case. Originally, Justice said it was completely neutral on the competitors jumping into the fray. But as October's comment cycle wore on, the department seemed to change its tune, arguing that Sprint should be allowed to at least participate in pretrial processes.
Sprint, from the start, has emphasized its "resources" in explaining its suit. "With today's legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal," said Susan Haller, vice president of litigation at Sprint, when the lawsuit was filed.
Judge Ellen Huvelle could decide on the Sprint/C Spire question during Oct. 24 oral arguments on this issue, but she has discretion to make the decision when she chooses. The Justice Department sued to block the merger in August. AT&T has asked the court to block the suit.
AT&T's proposed purchase of T-Mobile would reduce the number of national wireless companies from four to three. It would also concentrate 80 percent of the market in the hands of Verizon and AT&T and crown AT&T the new market leader.
The Justice Department says that such concentration would damage competition and hurt consumers. But the company argues that fierce competition from regional wireless companies makes the wireless market more competitive than ever and that it would remain so after the merger.
Want to stay ahead of the curve? Sign up for National Journal's AM & PM Must Reads. News and analysis to ensure you don't miss a thing. fmlht111025
Sprint's Bid to Join AT&T Suit Offers Unique Alliance
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PITTSFIELD -- More than 500 people attended a job fair at the Crowne Plaza Hotel earlier this month, but the attire they wore was as varied as their ambitions.
While some came clad in jackets and ties, others arrived dressed in shorts, sandals or sneakers.
Guess which ones had the best chance of landing a job interview.
"First impressions count," said Meelan Dale of Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires. "The minute you walk into a job interview, they're sizing you up."
Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, many people entering or re-entering the work force these days either don't know how to dress for a job interview, or can't afford the types of clothes that they need to make a good impression.
The SuitYourSelf Boutique is trying to fill that void.
Originally founded in 2005 through a cooperative effort of local community organizations, the boutique provides high-end, donated clothes to job-seekers who receive referrals through a variety of agencies, including the BerkshireWorks Career Center, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, and the Berkshire Community Action Council. Those who receive jobs are provided with additional outfits.
The program moved from the Christian Center on Robbins Avenue to Goodwill Industries' administrative offices at 158 Tyler St. in August. Goodwill decided to take on the unfunded program because it fit the organization's mission of training and teaching work
force skills, CEO Frank Engels said. The boutique will hold an open house at Goodwill from noon to 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4.
"Confidence-building is the goal," he said. "So when you walk into an interview, the dress you're wearing inspires confidence. A lot of people don't know how to dress."
With so many people out of work and the gap between rich and poor so large, it's typical that new job-seekers don't know how to dress for an interview, those in the career field say.
"I think some people have had real strong role models in their lives and been told how to dress, and others just haven't had those role models," said Barbara Emanuel, a marketing and business services representative for BerkshireWorks. "There's definitely economic factors. People don't have the attire and can't afford it. SuitYourself provides great resources for people. It sets people up on the right track."
Besides finding the right clothes, attendees also receive fashion advice from Dale, who runs the SuitYourSelf Boutique. A native of Great Britain, Dale worked for Harve Bernard, a national women's retailer in New York, before coming to Lenox to open a store in that chain in 1989. Dale was referred to Goodwill from BerkshireWorks after she was laid off by Kripalu in 2007.
Dale helps her clients mix and match clothing and accessories until they get the right fit.
"I fit them for size; I don't force things on people," Dale said. "Something magical happens. When they get into a blazer, there's a transformation."
One of the job-seekers who received Dale's clothing tips was Karen Fisher, who is the educational coordinator for Berkshire Community Corrections, which is now run by Phoenix House.
A single parent, Fisher said she was referred to the SuitYourSelf Boutique while looking for work after moving to the Berkshires from the state of Florida.
"I knew I needed to be properly attired," said Fisher, who wore one of the shirts that Dale had picked out for her when she spoke with The Eagle on Friday. "I didn't have the money to purchase the clothing. I was a single parent, in transition, and starting all over. This program gave me a hand up, and got me on my feet."
On a table in the boutique, Dale keeps a notebook filled with letters from clients who have expressed sentiments similar to Fisher's. Dale is proud of its contents.
"Without your help," one client wrote, "I wouldn't know where to start."
Donations for the SuitYourselfBoutique must be labeled for that purpose, and placed on hangers. They can be dropped off at any Goodwill Industries location in the Berkshires. fmlht111025
Boutique suits up job-seekers for interviews
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DEAN Brogan will play his 12th season in three or four-game stints, mindful that he will need to nurse his 32-year-old body through Greater Western Sydney's debut year but also determined to prove that footballers can be retired off too quickly.
Brogan was on holiday in Bali last week when he learnt that Port Adelaide and the Giants had agreed to a trade that enabled him and teammate Chad Cornes to make their way to the new club - and not wait for the pre-season draft.
Brogan will play for one season before moving into a coaching role.
He told The Sunday Age that while he was ready to help Greater Western Sydney's large group of teenagers out with whatever challenges came their way, he was determined to play as well as he could.
''I'm not going up [to Sydney] for a holiday, put it that way,'' Brogan said. ''Thirty's a bit of a dirty age in the AFL, but I think it depends which club you're at, and I honestly believe that a lot of guys do retire too young.''
The Port Adelaide premiership ruckman announced he would retire in June, agreeing with coach Matthew Primus that it was time for young players to be given an opportunity, before calls from Mark Williams and Steve Silvagni recharged his enthusiasm to play on at the Giants.
''Port Adelaide was at a point where they needed to bring new players in and start building for their next premiership, but I think clubs are starting to look at it now and think, no matter how young your group is, you need some older, experienced heads in there too.
''It's a unique situation and I'm not going up there thinking I'm going to be the main man in the ruck. I'm going up to help the young guys and to get them ready for everything AFL footy will throw at them. But ... I'm going up there to play as well as I can before anything else.''
Brogan, his partner Jo and daughter Charlie will move to Sydney in six weeks, and Brogan said his initial focus would be on devising with conditioning coach John Quinn a pre-season program that would take into account the calf problems he endured late last season.
''That's been an issue for me this year, but before this year I'd had a really good run with injury, so I'll need to manage that, but I've had some lengthy discussions with John already and it will basically come down to me listening to my body and knowing what it needs,'' he said.
''The plan isn't to play every game - I'll play three or four in a row and then have a week or two off - and I know I'm going to need to be managed a lot more than the younger guys. If I'm sensible and look after myself, I'm confident I'll get through the season fine.''
Coaching had not appealed to Brogan as a career path before this year, but after taking part in a course run by David Wheadon via the AFL Players Association, he realised it was something he was keen to explore. Simon Goodwin, Adam Simpson, Shane O'Bree and Steven King are among the other ex-players who have worked with Wheadon before moving into assistant roles.
''I'm still unsure whether I want to become a full-time assistant or just work with young guys, but that's the great thing about this opportunity,'' Brogan said.
''I've got a lot to learn, and hopefully next year I'll find my niche with the coaching and work out what I want to do.'' fmlht111025
Short and sharp suits Brogan
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WHEN a standing ovation at Anfield goes to a middle-aged man in a suit, it is either for a miracle-working manager or a distinguished former player.
Not this time. For once, a politician put Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in the shade.
Steve Rotheram, the MP for Liverpool Walton who campaigned so eloquently to get government documents on the Hillsborough disaster finally released, was applauded enthusiastically.
That was always going to be Liverpool's biggest win of the week. The problem was that it was the only one.
But after victory in the House of Commons came a setback at their Merseyside home.
Newly-promoted Norwich were the guests who failed to read the terms of their invitation. Trailing 1-0, Paul Lambert made a game-changing switch.
On came his captain Grant Holt. He proved the very definition of an impact substitute. Three minutes after coming on, he had scored. Within six more, he almost delivered an improbable win for Norwich.
The Canaries, with 10 points from five games, are not so much flying high as soaring to unexpected heights.
They even survived an unwelcome blast from their past. Craig Bellamy's controversial career began in Norfolk.
Eleven years and eight clubs since he left Carrow Road for Coventry, he scored the first league goal of his second spell at Anfield against his old employers.
His opportunistic strike on the stroke of half-time was typical Bellamy, the product of persistence and pace.
As Jose Enrique's punt came out of the sky, the sliding Russell Martin was trying to hold off Suarez. The ball bounced off him to Bellamy, who cut infield and placed his shot towards the far corner, John Ruddy's touch not enough to keep it out.
Temporarily, it ended Liverpool's frustration. They hit the woodwork three times and were inches away from a two-goal lead in the first 11 minutes.
In the second half, the near-misses continued when Suarez fooled Leon Barnett and looked to beat Ruddy. The covering Martin got a touch to his shot, wrong-footing his goalkeeper and seeing the ball bounce back off the upright.
So near but yet so far, it summed up the Uruguayan's day. He was a constant threat. His shots went wide at near and far post. When they were on target, Ruddy saved, and when he went to ground, Peter Walton was reluctant to give him a decision.
But whereas the ball would not go in for him, it did for Holt. Anthony Pilkington curled in a cross, Pepe Reina came and missed it and Holt headed it in.
There was almost an action replay. Another teasing cross, a second Holt header. This time Reina redeemed himself with a brilliant save. That, for Liverpool, would have been too cruel. fmlht111025
HOLT SUITS ROLE AS LAMBERT SUPERSUB
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Over the last couple of months Bank of America (BAC.N) has taken a stock market and regulatory beating so brutal that it's reportedly considering the previously unthinkable option of putting Countrywide into Chapter 11. BofA's mortgage-backed securities exposure seems to have no upper limit; throughout BofA's long hot summer, it felt like every week investors surfaced with new claims that BofA, Countrywide, or Merrill Lynch violated state and federal securities laws in MBS offerings.
Investors and bond insurers have, of course, made the same claims about Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), and a host of other MBS securitizers. Most notably, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ruined a lot of people's Labor Day weekend when it filed 17 suits against just about every financial institution in the MBS game (except for Wells Fargo (WFC.N)), asserting state and federal securities law claims.
But the difference, so far, between Bank of America and everyone else has been that BofA is facing litigation not just for securities claims but also for breaching contracts with MBS investors. Mortgage-backed securities, remember, were typically sold through trusts governed by pooling and servicing agreements. Those pooling and servicing contracts usually included provisions calling for the originator of the underlying mortgages to repurchase any loans found to violate the lender's representations and warranties about their quality. Suits based on alleged breaches of reps and warranties are known as put-back claims-and there's good reason to believe that banks' put-back exposure may ultimately dwarf their securities law liability.
Consider the record to date. For all the turmoil in the stock market when an MBS investor like AIG (AIG.N) or FHFA files a securities suit, there's only been one public settlement of a claim that an MBS issuer violated securities laws: Wells Fargo's $125 million class action deal in July. By contrast, BofA's own estimation of its put-back exposure, according to its most recent presentation to analysts, is $18 billion, which includes the $3 billion it has already agreed to pay Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) for deficient mortgages the federal housing loan agencies bought directly from Countrywide; an estimated $2 billion BofA has agreed to pay the bond insurer Assured Guaranty (AGO.N); and the embattled $8.5 billion proposed settlement with Countrywide MBS investors for breaches in Countrywide's reps and warranties. In addition, U.S. Bank, as the trustee in an offering backed by Countrywide mortgages, sued BofA in August, asserting that the bank is liable for breaches in Countrywide's reps and warranties.
You may be thinking that put-back liability is only BofA's problem. Put-back suits, after all, are not easy to bring. Investors can't sue mortgage originators directly to demand compensation for deficient underlying loans. Those claims can be made only through the securitization trustee-and only after investors have jumped through a series of procedural hoops under the pooling and servicing agreements. Moreover, investors can't take any meaningful action with regard to any individual trust unless they control 25 percent of the voting rights in the trust. Plaintiffs lawyers have spent the last three years trying to put together investor coalitions to get past that 25 percent threshold, but so far we've only seen those coalitions take action against Bank of America.
That's going to change. I believe a combination of four factors is going to lead to an imminent rise in put-back claims against banks other than BofA.
The first consideration is mounting evidence of across-the-board breaches in mortgage originators' representations and warranties about the mortgages underlying banks' MBS offerings. The bond insurance industry and FHFA have been diligently combing through thousands of individual loan files, scrutinizing whether mortgage originators failed to live up to their promises about such things as loan-to-value ratios and homeowner occupancy rates. They've found that other mortgage originators -- including the mortgage lending arms of Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse -- breached representations and warranties at least as often as Countrywide. Lawyers for bond insurers have also obtained key rulings from the New York state supreme court that permit them to use statistical sampling in put-back cases. Assuming those rulings extend to investors, put-back plaintiffs won't have to look at every underlying loan file to assert breaches but can determine a breach rate by looking at a representative sample of loans.
Second, the clock is ticking on New York's six-year statute of limitations for contract claims. Investors acted first against Countrywide because Countrywide was the biggest mortgage lender in the U.S. and because its October 2008 mortgage-refinancing settlement with 11 state attorneys general put investors on notice of deficiencies in Countrywide's mortgage underwriting process. Since then, we've learned that Countrywide wasn't the only one. Thanks to bond insurer litigation, securities suits, and congressional investigations, the statute is running on investors' breach-of-contract claims against other mortgage lenders and the banks that packaged their loans into MBS.
Third, securitization trustees are under pressure to act. Last week Wells Fargo, as trustee, filed a put-back suit against EMC (the erstwhile mortgage arm of Bear Stearns, now part of JPMorgan Chase). That was the third trustee put-back suit we've seen in just the last few weeks. Three isn't a lot, but it's a lot more than nothing.
Finally, there's the most important consideration: the investors. Remember, investors don't have standing to push trustees to bring reps and warranties claims unless they have the threshold 25 percent voting rights in an MBS trust. Throughout the MBS litigation investors have been reluctant to show themselves. But the controversy over BofA's proposed $8.5 billion Countrywide MBS settlement has flushed investors into the open, beginning with the Gibbs & Bruns group of 22 major institutional investors that negotiated the deal and have steadfastly supported it. Subsequent intervention petitions in the case have disclosed the identity of dozens more Countrywide MBS holders, so presumably, they won't be so reluctant to step up against other banks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, has been warning financial institutions to brace for reps and warranties liability. Last October, in a letter from the SEC's senior assistant chief accountant, the agency reminded MBS issuers and underwriters that they must disclose their exposure "relating to the various representations and warranties that you made in connection with your securitization activities and whole loan sales." The letter called on banks to include in their public filings a discussion of their reps and warranties litigation risk and their MBS breach-of-contract reserves.
So far -- and I know I keep using that phrase -- big banks haven't put a number on their reps and warranties exposure, which they've downplayed in public filings. Morgan Stanley's most recent 10Q, for instance, said that the bank may "under some circumstances" face liability for "representations and warranties concerning approximately $46 billion of loans and ... the representations and warranties made by third-party sellers, many of which are now insolvent, on approximately $21 billion of loans." It did not, however, report reserves for reps and warranties liability. Goldman Sach's second-quarter 10Q reported that, to date, mortgage repurchase claims against it "have not been significant," and said it was "not in a position to make a meaningful estimate" of its ultimate exposure." Credit Suisse reported only $1.6 billion in outstanding repurchase claims as of the end of the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase's most recent report to the SEC addressed only the bond insurers' put-back claims against EMC, and noted that its indemnifications by now-defunct mortgage issuers may not be worth much. It didn't put any sort of number on its put-back exposure or reserves.
Will third-quarter filings have more to say about put-back exposure? Stay tuned. fmlht110928
COLUMN-Banks beware of MBS breach suits: Alison Frankel
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