January 6, 2012 - The court ordered the distribution of residual funds from the net settlement fund.
March 29, 2011 - The court ordered the authorization of the distribution of the net settlement fund.

September 13, 2010 - The court approved the settlement, entered the orders approving the plan of allocation, the motion for attorneys' fees and expenses, and dismissed the action with prejudice.

May 17, 2010 - Parties filed a stipulation of settlement.

January 6, 2010 - The court in part denied and in part granted defendants' motion to dismiss.

July 17, 2009 - Defendants filed a motion to dismiss.

June 4, 2009 - The lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint.

April 20, 2009 - Lead plaintiff and lead counsel were appointed.

April 14, 2009 - Lead plaintiff motions were filed.

February 10, 2009 - An investor in the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund (NYSE: SRV) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of all persons who purchased the shares of Cushing MLP Total Return Fund (NYSE: SRV) between September 1, 2008 and December 19, 2008, inclusive against Swank Energy Income Advisors, LP, Swank Capital, LLC, Jerry V. Swank, Mark W. Fordyce, CPA, Brian R. Bruce, Ronald P. Trout, and Edward N. McMillan, alleging violations of Federal Securities Laws.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges that between September 1, 2008 and December 19, 2008 defendants grossly and falsely overstated Cushing MLP Total Return Fund’s net asset value by including the full value of a $49.1 million deferred tax asset in the Fund’s stated net asset value, without establishing an appropriate valuation reserve against the risk that the Fund could or would never utilize or recognize the deferred tax asset.

The Complaint further alleges that between September 1, 2008 and December 19, 2008, defendants also concealed the fact that the deferred tax asset was the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund’s largest asset and accounted for more than one-half of the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund’s stated net asset value. When defendants caused the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund to write down the deferred tax asset to zero on December 19, 2008, and reduced the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund’s stated net asset value accordingly, the market price at which the Cushing MLP Total Return Fund (NYSE: SRV) shares traded plummeted by nearly 50 percent, dropping from $7.40 immediately before the announcement to just $3.81 after it, causing Fund shareholders to lose tens of millions of dollars, so the lawsuit.