No Sign of Reported Suit Against Countrywide

A New York law firm says it has "commenced" a shareholder lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp., but so far there is no evidence a lawsuit has been filed.As previously reported, Stull, Stull & Brody alleges that certain Countrywide executives and directors backdated and "manipulated the prices of stock option grants." But Countrywide officials have not seen a complaint, and attorneys at the law firm have not responded to inquiries about the supposed filing. "The company has not seen a copy of any lawsuit brought by Stull, Stull and Brody, and we generally do not comment on pending litigation matters," Countrywide said in a statement. It added: "However, we believe the allegations laid out in the news release to be improper and lacking any merit and if the suit moves forward we will defend against it vigorously." The publicly traded company, based in Calabasas, Calif., can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.