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Litigation
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Litigation
11.
Litigation

In the ordinary course of our business, we are routinely made a defendant in or a party to pending or threatened legal actions or proceedings which, in some cases, seek substantial monetary damages from or other forms of relief against us.  In our opinion, after consultation with legal counsel, we believe it unlikely that such actions or proceedings will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

City of New York Notice of Determination
By “Notice of Determination” dated September 14, 2010, the City of New York has notified us of an alleged tax deficiency in the amount of $5.2 million, including interest and penalties, related to our 2006 tax year.  The deficiency relates to our operation of two subsidiaries of Astoria Federal, Fidata Service Corp., or Fidata, and Astoria Federal Mortgage Corp., or AF
 
 
Mortgage.  Fidata is a passive investment company which maintains offices in Connecticut.  AF Mortgage is an operating subsidiary through which, prior to 2011, Astoria Federal engaged in lending activities outside the State of New York.  We disagree with the assertion of the tax deficiency and we filed a Petition for Hearing with the City of New York on December 6, 2010 to oppose the Notice of Determination.  At this time, management believes it is more likely than not that we will succeed in refuting the City of New York’s position, although defense costs may be significant.  Accordingly, no liability or reserve has been recognized in our consolidated statement of financial condition at June 30, 2011 with respect to this matter.

No assurance can be given as to whether or to what extent we will be required to pay the amount of the tax deficiency asserted by the City of New York, whether additional tax will be assessed for years subsequent to 2006, that this matter will not be costly to oppose, that this matter will not have an impact on our financial condition or results of operations or that, ultimately, any such impact will not be material.

Automated Transactions LLC Litigation
On November 20, 2009, an action entitled Automated Transactions LLC v. Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association was commenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, or the Southern District Court, against us by Automated Transactions LLC, alleging patent infringement involving integrated banking and transaction machines, including automated teller machines, that we utilize.  We were served with the summons and complaint in such action on March 2, 2010.  The plaintiff also filed a similar suit on the same day against another financial institution and its holding company.  The plaintiff seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction preventing us from continuing to utilize the allegedly infringing machines.  We are vigorously defending this lawsuit, and filed an answer and counterclaims to the plaintiff’s complaint on March 23, 2010, to which the plaintiff filed a reply on April 12, 2010.

On May 18, 2010, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint at the direction of the Southern District Court, containing substantially the same allegations as the original complaint. On May 27, 2010, we moved to dismiss the amended complaint.  On March 10, 2011, the Southern District Court entered an order on the record that dismissed all claims against Astoria Financial Corporation but denied the motion to dismiss the claims against Astoria Federal for alleged direct patent infringement.  The order also dismissed in part the claims against Astoria Federal for alleged inducement of our customers to violate plaintiff’s patents and for Astoria Federal’s allegedly willful violation of the plaintiff’s patents, allowing claims to continue only for alleged inducement and willful infringement after our receiving notice of the pending suit from plaintiff’s counsel.  Based on the Southern District Court’s ruling, on March 31, 2011, we answered the amended complaint substantially denying the allegations of the amended complaint.

We have tendered requests for indemnification from the manufacturer and from the transaction processor utilized with respect to the integrated banking and transaction machines, and we served third party complaints against Metavante Corporation and Diebold, Inc. seeking to enforce our indemnification rights.

An adverse result in this lawsuit may include an award of monetary damages, on-going royalty obligations, and/or may result in a change in our business practice, which could result in a loss of
 
 
revenue.  We cannot at this time estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any.  No assurance can be given at this time that the litigation against us will be resolved amicably, that if this litigation results in an adverse decision that we will be successful in seeking indemnification, that this litigation will not be costly to defend, that this litigation will not have an impact on our financial condition or results of operations or that, ultimately, any such impact will not be material.