Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon and Attorney General Bill Schuette filed one complaint as agents for Michigan's four state employee retirement systems. The Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association filed the other.

Both lawsuits were filed Jan. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Each named Countrywide, some of its former executives and directors, and others as defendants. Among the individual defendants is former Countrywide chief executive Angelo R. Mozilo, who agreed last year to a $67.5 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

By filing the "opt-out" suits, Michigan and Fresno County joined a long list of large institutional investors who declined to remain a part of the class and participate in a $624 million class-action settlement reached in 2010. These funds believe they can recover more money through individual actions.

In their complaints, the plaintiffs argue that Countrywide misled its investors regarding the Company's underwriting practices, its exposure to the subprime market and its financial results.

The complaints state that, between March 12, 2004, and March 7, 2008, Countrywide assured investors that it should not be affected by a housing market downturn. However, the lenders' share price dropped from more than $35 per share to about $5 per share as a series of disclosures revealed that the company actually had lax mortgage underwriting guidelines and had failed to properly increase its loan loss reserves as necessary.

Countrywide was the largest mortgage lender in the United States when Bank of America purchased it in July 2008.