BAD NEWS

I was hoping civil suits against the banksters would be successful but I guess many won't be.

Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Win Dismissal of Mortgage Bond Suit
By David Voreacos and David Glovin

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- McGraw-Hill Cos.’s Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Corp. won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they defrauded investors who relied on their ratings before buying $63 billion of investment-grade mortgage-backed securities.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York also dismissed some claims yesterday against JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Bank NV, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, in a lawsuit filed by institutional investors.

Other Dismissal

In January, another judge in New York dismissed claims against the rating companies in a lawsuit by investors who bought $100 billion of mortgage-backed securities sold by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings also won dismissal on March 29 of a negligence and fraud lawsuit by two California investors who lost money on highly rated bonds.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd in Sacramento threw out the case, saying the investors’ complaint wasn’t specific enough about the alleged fraud. He said they could refile the lawsuit within 30 days if they can include more detail, such as misleading statements by the companies.