Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow LLP And Chimicles & Tikellis LLP Announce Jury Verdict in Class Action Lawsuit Against NAPICO.

Business Editors/Legal Writers

LOS ANGELES --(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2002

Co-lead counsel Lawrence A. Sucharow, a senior partner of Goodkind Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow LLP (GLRS), New York, and lead trial counsel Nicholas E. Chimicles, a senior partner of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, Haverford, Pa., have announced that yesterday a federal court jury here determined that the Investor Class was entitled to punitive damages totaling $92 million against defendant NAPICO, which the jury found, by clear and convincing evidence, had acted with malice, oppression or fraud in breaching its fiduciary duties to the investors.

On November 15, 2002, in the first phase of the trial, the jury rendered a unanimous verdict of more than $92 million, in favor of the Investor Class, for violations of federal securities laws and breaches of fiduciary duties in the In Re Real Estate Associates Limited Partnerships Litigation.

It is believed that this landmark case is the first Section 14(a) - proxy law - Securities Class Action to be tried and won, before a jury, anywhere in the United States since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) of 1995.

GLRS and Chimicles & Tikellis represented a Class of more than 18,000 limited partnership investors, whose votes were solicited in August 1998 for the approval of the sale of approximately one-half of the interests held by eight public Real Estate Associates Limited Partnerships (REAL Partnerships) to a newly-formed real estate investment trust (REIT) formed by some of the defendants.

The defendants in the In Re Real Estate Associates Limited Partnerships Litigation are: National Partnership Investment Corp. (NAPICO), the corporate managing general partner of the REAL Partnerships; Alan I. Casden, the indirect 100 percent owner of NAPICO at the time of the December 1998 REIT transaction; and Henry C. Casden, Bruce Nelson and Charles Boxenbaum, who were officers and/or directors of NAPICO at the time of the REIT transaction. Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO) (NYSE: AIV) acquired NAPICO in March 2002 and as a consequence, NAPICO, now named AIMCO Capital Inc., is an AIMCO subsidiary.

The five week trial, presided over by Federal District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson, in Los Angeles, saw more than 25 witnesses appear before an 11 member jury. After six days of deliberation, the jury reached its unanimous verdict, for the Plaintiffs, on liability and damages. By finding that Defendants violated federal proxy laws, the jury determined that the Solicitation Statements were materially false and misleading. In rendering its verdict on the Section14(a) securities law claim, the jury also determined that each defendant knowingly violated the securities laws, thereby triggering the application of joint and several liability against each defendant.

The GLRS trial team comprised Mr. Sucharow, GLRS partner Joseph V. Sternberg and associate Christopher J. Keller. The Chimicles & Tikellis trial team consisted of Mr. Chimicles, associates Kimberly M. Donaldson, Candice L. Hegedus and M. Katherine Meermans as well as Kathleen P. Chimicles, ASA, who coordinated the preparation and submission of all expert reports. In addition, Plaintiffs also retained James Vodola of PASCORP, of White Plains, New York, a financial forensic firm specializing in partnership matters and litigation.

Mr. Sucharow, current president of the National Association of Securities & Commercial Law Attorneys (NASCAT), said, "We believe this to be the largest jury verdict in a securities class action since the enactment of the PSLRA." Mr. Chimicles is the immediate past president of NASCAT.

Other co-counsel involved in the four-year prosecution included: Glancy & Binkow LLP, Los Angeles; Law Offices of Lasky & Rifkind, Ltd., Chicago and New York; Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP, New York; and Wechsler Harwood Halebian & Feffer LLP, New York.

For nearly 40 years, the trial lawyers at GLRS have litigated the most complex cases with special emphasis on securities and antitrust class actions. GLRS has offices in New York and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and maintains professional relationships with local counsel throughout the United States, enabling GLRS to try cases nationwide. Chimicles & Tikellis LLP specializes in complex litigation with an emphasis on securities, antitrust and consumer cases, and has offices in Haverford, PA and Wilmington, DE.