February 2010

Rating agencies are not susceptible to ’33 Act liability as "underwriters," even if they helped structure the mortgage backed securities at issue, according to February 1, 2010 ruling (here) by Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan in which he dismissed Moody’s and McGraw-Hill (S&P’s parent) from the Lehman Brothers Mortgage-Backed Securities

In a 90-page January 27, 2010 opinion (here) District of New Mexico Judge James Browning granted substantial parts of the defendants’ motions to dismiss in the Thornburgh Mortgage subprime securities suit, while also denying the motions to dismiss in connection with certain claims against Larry Goldstone, who served as the company’s President

In recent posts (here and here), I have discussed the issues surrounding coverage under D&O insurance policies for investigative costs and special litigation committee expenses. In response to these posts, readers Jeff Kiburtz and Cindy Forman of the Santa Monica law firm of Shapiro Rodarte & Forman have submitted the following guest blog post.