Court Makes It Harder for Investors to Sue

[Dover]

AP
By GINA HOLLAND , 03.21.2006, 03:47 PM


The Supreme Court made it harder Tuesday for investors to join forces to file high-stakes fraud lawsuits against companies.

The 8-0 decision blocks state class-action lawsuits by stockholders who contend they were tricked into holding onto declining shares.

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the court, said that to rule otherwise would allow "wasteful, duplicative litigation."

The decision does not shut the door to lawsuits filed by individual stockholders, but rather to suits brought on behalf of large groups.

"There had been some upswing in these after the Enron and WorldCom scandals," said Columbia Law School professor John Coffee, who believes it will be too expensive for individual stock owners to pursue such suits.

It was a major victory for Merrill Lynch & Co., which faced a spate of lawsuits prompted in part by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's 2002 probe into the investment banking firm's practices. ...cont'd

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/03/21/ap2611286.html

[fasttense]

1. The dancing supremes paying back their masters. n/t

[neoblues]

3. Now who thinks these people are above common...

...common corruption. They appointed President Pin-head after all. It appears we really are going to see an era in which "the People" won't stand a chance against any of the following: Corporations, any Wealthy Individual/Organization and the U.S. Government. Of course, it was always an uphill battle, but still...

[Dover]

2. This should be your signal to get out of stocks completely...

They are basically telling you that they now have NO accountability, and have free reign to manipulate the stock market.

As if anyone needs anymore 'signals'...

[leveymg]

4. This is bad -- it upholds a law that places sole jurisdiction for such

class action suits in federal courts -- taking the state courts out of the equation. Because the federal bench is packed with GOP appointees, don't expect much in the way of new shareholder protections in the future. But, there is still limited recourse.