Countrywide investors lose

Countrywide Financial Corp. investors suing over Bank of America Corp.’s $2.5- billion buyout lost an attempt to stop a settlement of claims that company officials sold the largest U.S. home lender too cheaply.

Delaware Chancery Judge John Noble refused to put on hold a settlement of lawsuits alleging that Countrywide directors’ miscues damaged the Calabasas lender and that the board failed to get a fair price.

Pension funds for state employees and teachers in Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi and Louisiana are suing Countrywide directors in federal court in California. The funds asked Noble to throw out the Delaware settlement, which doesn’t provide any money to shareholders, saying it would wipe out their claims.