JPMorgan settles lawsuit over defective Bear Stearns mortgage debt

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) has agreed to settle class action litigation arising from Bear Stearns' sale in 2006 and 2007 of roughly $17.58 billion of mortgage securities that proved defective, a court filing showed.

Terms were not disclosed. The agreement in principle to settle was in a letter from lawyers for JPMorgan and the plaintiff investors, which was filed on Thursday night in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)