−Removed: are no material pending legal proceedings to which the Company or its subsidiaries are a party or to which any of its property
−Removed: is subject, other than routine legal proceedings occurring in the ordinary course of business.
−Removed: Management does not believe resolution
−Removed: of any present litigation will have a material adverse effect on the business, consolidated financial condition or results of
−Removed: operations of the Company.
−Removed: SAFETY DISCLOSURES.
+Added: LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
+Added: During the fiscal year ended December 31,
+Added: 2023, except as set forth below, the Company was not involved in any material pending legal proceedings as a plaintiff or as a
+Added: defendant, other than routine legal proceedings occurring in the ordinary course of business.
+Added: Management believes that those
+Added: routine legal proceedings involve, in the aggregate, amounts that are immaterial to the Company’s financial condition and
+Added: results of operations financial condition or results of operations.
+Added: In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company
+Added: reached an agreement to settle two (2) purported class action lawsuits concerning the Company’s deposit products and related
+Added: disclosures, specifically involving overdraft fees and insufficient funds fees.
+Added: The matters, which asserted claims for
+Added: breach of contract including the covenant of good faith and fair dealing against the Company, were filed in the Massachusetts
+Added: Superior Court, County of Suffolk, on June 10, 2022 and July 29, 2022, respectively.
+Added: Also in March 2022, the Company received from
+Added: the named plaintiff in one of the putative class action lawsuits a demand letter pursuant to the Massachusetts Consumer Protection
+Added: Act, M.G.L Ch.
+Added: 93A (“Chapter 93A”).
+Added: The demand letter sought restitution and debt forgiveness for the named plaintiff
+Added: and the putative class, plus double or treble damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees, as may be allowed under Chapter 93A.
+Added: The Bank retained outside litigation counsel in these matters, and discussions to find a mutually acceptable resolution, including
+Added: an arms-length mediation before a neutral mediator, proceeded between the parties.
+Added: On January 5, 2024, the cases were refiled
+Added: as a single action in federal court in Massachusetts, where the plaintiffs have moved for preliminarily approval of a class settlement,
+Added: under which the Bank expects to pay damages of approximately $510,000 in exchange for the dismissal with prejudice and release
+Added: of all claims that were or could have been asserted in the putative class action lawsuits on behalf of the plaintiffs and all putative
+Added: settlement class members.
+Added: The proposed settlement remains subject to preliminary court approval, notice to class members, and final
+Added: court approval.
+Added: The $510,000 in settlement expense was included in non-interest expense in the Company’s Consolidated Statements
+Added: of Net Income for the year ended December 31, 2023.
+Added: MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.
+Added: n ot Applicable.
Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.