Court approves Bank of America's $8.5 billion mortgage settlement

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge on Friday approved most of Bank of America Corp's (NYS:BAC) $8.5 billion (5.1 billion pounds) settlement with investors in mortgage securities, which would resolve much of the bank's liability from its acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp during the financial crisis.

Justice Barbara Kapnick ruled that Bank of New York Mellon (NYS:BK), the trustee overseeing the securities, had acted reasonably in determining that the settlement was in the best interests of the investors. Kapnick made one exception to her ruling, saying the trustee had not acted reasonably in settling certain loan modification claims brought by the investors.

"This court finds that, except for the finding ... regarding the loan modification claims, the trustee did not abuse its discretion in entering into the settlement agreement and did not act in bad faith or outside the bounds of reasonable judgment," Kapnick wrote in her ruling.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Nick Zieminski)