Third Avenue Fund Securities Litigation
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Welcome to the Third Avenue Fund Securities Litigation Website

This website has been established to provide general information related to the proposed settlement ("Settlement") of the action entitled In re Third Avenue Management LLC Securities Litigation, Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-02758-PKC (the "Action"). The capitalized terms used on this website, and not otherwise defined, shall have the same meanings ascribed to them in the Stipulation of Settlement (the "Stipulation") dated March 31, 2017, which can be found and downloaded by clicking on the Case Documents tab above.

This Action is currently pending before the Honorable P. Kevin Castel in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”). The Court has appointed the law firm of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP as Lead Counsel to represent the Class.

Plaintiffs allege that the offering documents for the continous offering of the Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund (the “Fund”) negligently misrepresented and omitted material information about the Fund and its assets. More specifically, Plaintiffs allege that: (i) the Fund’s Registration Statement misrepresented the liquidity of the Fund’s assets, which Plaintiffs assert contained illiquid holdings in an amount greater than the Fund’s purported 15% restriction on such holdings and parallel U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) guidance; (ii) the Fund misrepresented the shareholders’ ability to redeem shares in light of the Fund’s insufficient liquidity and the substantial amount of redemptions that could force the Fund to suspend redemptions; (iii) the Fund inaccurately marketed itself as a “high-yield” fund, when it was actually a “highly illiquid distressed debt fund”; (iv) the Fund misrepresented Defendants’ ability to properly value securities because the Fund did not properly identify illiquid securities or take into account the illiquid nature of its assets when determining their values; (v) the Fund’s Registration Statement contained false and misleading sworn certifications; and (vi) the Fund did not comply with the SEC’s requirement in Form N-1A that mutual fund prospectuses disclose the principal risks of investing in the Fund.

During 2015, the Fund experienced a significant increase in the amount of redemptions by shareholders. The Fund sold assets for cash to meet redemption obligations. By December 9, 2015, with shares of the Fund down more than 45% below their Class Period high, shareholders were no longer able to redeem shares for cash because the Fund was unable to generate sufficient cash to meet redemptions without resorting to asset sales at prices that would disadvantage the remaining shareholders of the Fund.

Defendants deny all of Plaintiffs’ allegations and that they did anything wrong. Defendants maintain that the Fund was operated at all times in accordance with SEC guidance and the Fund’s disclosures to investors. Defendants also deny that the Plaintiffs or the Class suffered legally compensable damages, or that any causal connection could be established between the alleged misrepresentations and any alleged harm to Plaintiffs or the Class. 

There has not been a final resolution of this Action in favor of the Plaintiffs or Defendants. Instead, all parties agreed to the Settlement with the assistance of a former federal judge (the Honorable Layn R. Phillips), an experienced and highly respected mediator of complex actions like this. By agreeing to the Settlement, the parties avoid the cost and uncertainty of further litigation, including a trial (and any further appeals), and allow eligible Class Members who submit valid claims to receive a payment. Defendants have denied the claims asserted against them in the Action and deny having engaged in any wrongdoing or violation of law of any kind whatsoever. The Plaintiffs and their attorneys believe the Settlement is in the best interests of the Class.

The Settlement, if approved, will result in the creation of a cash settlement amount of $14,250,000. The settlement amount, plus accrued interest (the “Settlement Fund”) and minus the costs of Notice of Pendency and Proposed Settlement of Class Action (the "Notice") and all costs associated with the administration of the Settlement, as well as attorneys’ fees and expenses, as approved by the Court (the “Net Settlement Fund”), will be distributed to eligible Class Members pursuant to the Plan of Allocation that is described in the Notice.

Class Members means all Persons who purchased shares of the Fund during the period from March 1, 2013 through December 10, 2015, inclusive.  Excluded from the Class are Defendants, employees, officers and directors of the Defendant entities, members of the immediate families of each of the Individual Defendants, the estates of the deceased Individual Defendants, any Person in which any Defendant has a controlling interest, and, as to such excluded Person, the legal and personal representatives, agents, heirs, successors, or assigns of any such excluded Person. Also excluded from the Class are any Class Members who timely and validly exclude themselves from the Class in accordance with the requirements set forth in the Notice.

Although the information on this website is intended to assist you, it does not replace the information contained in the Notice and the Stipulation, both of which can be found and downloaded from the Case Documents tab above. We recommend that you read the Notice and other relevant case documents carefully.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS IN THIS SETTLEMENT

SUBMIT A PROOF OF CLAIM AND RELEASE FORM The only way to get a payment.
GO TO A HEARING Ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the Settlement.
DO NOTHING Get no payment. Give up your rights. 
EXCLUDE YOURSELF Get no payment. This is the only option that allows you to ever bring a lawsuit against Defendants and the other Released Persons concerning the legal claims at issue in this case. 
OBJECT Write to the Court about why you do not like the Settlement.

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES

Submit Proof of Claim: July 19, 2017
Request Exclusion: June 2, 2017
File Objection: June 2, 2017
Court Hearing on Fairness of Settlement: June 23, 2017 at 2:15 p.m.