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Plaintiffs in the Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation "Survive and Advance" to Discovery Stage

In the consolidated pretrial proceedings of the multidistrict litigation In Re Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation, Plaintiffs are municipalities and other purchasers of municipal derivatives.  Plaintiffs first filed their consolidated amended complaint on August 22, 2008, in the Southern District of New York.  Named Defendants moved to dismiss the case.  On April 29, 2009, the Court dismissed the complaint, but granted Plaintiffs another chance to file an amended complant (leave to replead).  On June 18, 2009, Plaintiffs filed their second consolidated amended complaint.  In that second complaint, Plaintiffs relied on their own investigations as well as information from Bank of America obtained through a settlement process (including information provided by a confidential witness formerly employed by Bank of America's municipal derivatives desk who is cooperating with the DOJ in its antitrust investigation).
 
Defendants named in the suit once again filed motions to dismiss the second complaint.  On March 25, 2010, Judge Marrero denied those motions to dismiss in their entirety, pronouncing the claims in the complaint viable and plausible.  "Hausfeld LLP is very pleased that, after two years and much hotly-contested motion practice, the federal district court has held that the class complaint is viable and that class plaintiffs can now proceed to take full discovery with respect to what may well be the most wide-ranging conspiracy in the annals of antitrust jurisprudence," says Michael Lehmann, Partner in the firm's San Francisco office.  In the words of March Madness, the case has survived and will advance.  Judge Marerro has set a hearing for April 30, 2010, before which the parties must forumlate a plan setting forth discovery milestones for the Court's approval.

More information on this case: Municipal Derivatives

Practice Areas: Antitrust / Competition