NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co ( JPM.N ) has agreed in precept to settle class motion litigation arising from Bear Stearns’ sale of $17.fifty eight billion of mortgage securities that proved defective in the course of the recent U.S. housing and financial crises.

Ancel Martinez, a Wells Fargo spokesman, declined to remark. A lawyer for many of the plaintiffs did not instantly respond to requests for comment. The filings in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and other states said either side faced significant risks in shifting forward with the lawsuits, the first of which was filed in 2005. The tentative agreement follows a federal decide’s approval final 12 months of a $226 million settlement in an analogous case in California and rulings by two U.S. appeals courts that FedEx drivers are employees beneath state legal guidelines. Tera is in search of unspecified damages, which might be tripled if …