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A dissident investor's candidate has joined the board at First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., ending a costly legal dispute.
March 18 -
CEO Victor Karpiak will resign as chairman, and Stilwell Group will add a representative to the Washington company's board.
December 20
Activist investor Joseph Stilwell has filed a lawsuit against the New York proxy firm he hired for a contested board election at First Financial Northwest (FFNW).
Stilwell claimed in a lawsuit filed in March in New York State Supreme Court that his investment firm hired D.F. King & Co. of New York to solicit ballots on its behalf in a May 2012 board election at First Financial, an $887 million-asset thrift in Renton, Wash. The lawsuit claims that one of D.F. King's employees working the election failed to turn in a master ballot in time, causing Stilwells candidate to forfeit the election.
The lawsuit, which alleges that a breach of contract took place, is seeking about $12 million.
Stilwell
D.F. King denied the allegations in court filings. Calls to the offices of D.F. King and Stilwell were not returned. Joel Siegel, Stilwells lawyer, and David Levy, the lawyer representing D.F. King, also did not return calls seeking comment.
After last years proxy contest, Stilwell filed a lawsuit against First Financial in hopes of invalidating the election results. The parties reached a settlement in December, when Karpiak agreed to resign from the board. The settlement also called for First Financial