Carver Bancorp said it was contemplating an appeal of a Delaware Chancery Court judgement that votes were invalidly counted at its shareholder meeting.
Boston Bank of Commerce's BBC Capital Market Inc. said in a press release late Monday that the court ruling reversed the election of former New York Mayor David Dinkins and Chairman David Jones to the board. BBC said the ruling paves the way for its candidates, Kevin Cohee and Teri Williams, to sit on the board.
But Carver executives said Tuesday that they did not see the ruling as a setback.
"This is one issue in a basket of larger issues," said Walter T. Bonds, senior vice president and special assistant at Carver. "We are reviewing the courts ruling and evaluating an appeal." He said statements by Mr. Cohee and Ms. Williams in the BBC press release "do not reflect the language of the ruling. It only expresses their opinion and desire."
The ruling struck down the allocation of shares to several shareholders, Mr. Bonds said, but it did not change the outcome of the election.
Boston Bank had led a proxy fight to elect Mr. Cohee and Ms. Williams to the board to replace Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Jones, Carver's chairman.
In January, a group led by Boston Bank sued Carver to elect the two director candidates to Carver's board. Also named in the Jan. 18 complaint were Morgan Stanley & Co. and Provender Opportunities Fund L.P., both Carver investors.
The suit concerned whether shares issued to Morgan Stanley and Provender could be used to vote in the election. In the Delaware suit, Boston Bank sought to nullify the votes of those shares.
On March 19, Carver's board had rejected a proposal by Boston Bank's board that Carver buy Boston Bank.
Boston Bank, which owns a 7.38% stake in Carver, revised its offer but was refused again.
Carver is the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, the nation's largest minority owned institutions.
Its shares were up $1, or $12.5%, to $9 Tuesday.
--Dow Jones contributed to this report
