http://www.law360.com/ Latest articles for organization: Wachovia Corp. Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://www.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://www.law360.com/ http://www.law360.com/articles/135448 Revenue at most U.S. law firms was down significantly this year through the end of the third quarter, according to a survey by the Wachovia Legal Specialty Group. http://www.law360.com/articles/135448 http://www.law360.com/articles/134863 Wells Fargo & Co. has reached agreements to buy back about $1.3 billion in auction rate securities and pay a $1.9 million penalty to the state regulators that investigated allegations the bank misled customers about the riskiness of the investment. http://www.law360.com/articles/134863 http://www.law360.com/articles/133023 Employers in the financial services industry have been particularly hard hit recently by claims that many of their most highly paid employees have been misclassified as exempt. Identifying any issues, and addressing them head on, prior to litigation can save thousands, if not millions, of dollars, say Randy Gidseg, Stephen Jones and Joseph Carello of Nixon Peabody LLP. http://www.law360.com/articles/133023 http://www.law360.com/articles/132658 A bankruptcy judge agreed Thursday to let creditors choose between the reorganization plan crafted by debtors Young Broadcasting Inc., favored by senior lenders, and a competing plan by the unsecured creditors committee. http://www.law360.com/articles/132658 http://www.law360.com/articles/132326 Wachovia Corp. and the underwriters and auditor of 30 of the company's public offerings have denounced a consolidated class action alleging they downplayed Wachovia’s parlous subprime exposure when selling some $35 billion bond class securities. http://www.law360.com/articles/132326 http://www.law360.com/articles/132345 Bankrupt flooring company Congoleum Corp. has asked a judge to extend its debtor-in-possession financing agreement with Wachovia Bank NA through the end of June 2010 while it seeks approval of a bankruptcy plan that would resolve thousands of asbestos claims. http://www.law360.com/articles/132345 http://www.law360.com/articles/131230 An executive at JPMorgan Chase Bank has said in a sworn statement to a California bankruptcy court that homebuilder Woodside Group LLC violated its credit agreement when it consummated a significant reorganization last year. http://www.law360.com/articles/131230 http://www.law360.com/articles/130942 A judge has allowed credit default swap contract holder LaCrosse Financial Products LLC to claim $16.2 million in funds set aside from Sagittarius CDO I Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation entity administered by Deutsche Bank Trust Co. that invested in troubled mortgage-backed securities and has since been liquidated. http://www.law360.com/articles/130942 http://www.law360.com/articles/130318 Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, underwriters for the bank’s share offerings and individual defendants have lambasted a consolidated shareholder complaint they say opportunistically alleges fraud in the aftermath of the financial crisis. http://www.law360.com/articles/130318 http://www.law360.com/articles/130674 A federal judge has refused to reconsider her dismissal of Wachovia Corp.'s previous bid to toss out a racketeering suit brought by the liquidation trustee for bankrupt beverage company Le-Nature’s Inc. http://www.law360.com/articles/130674 http://www.law360.com/articles/129784 M&T Bank Corp. has reached a licensing agreement with DataTreasury Corp., ending the regional bank's involvement in an ongoing patent infringement suit over electronic check-imaging and other banking technology. http://www.law360.com/articles/129784 http://www.law360.com/articles/129400 The plaintiffs in multidistrict legislation that accuses the nation's top banks of bilking consumers with egregious overdraft fees are seeking to add more meat to their allegations. http://www.law360.com/articles/129400 http://www.law360.com/articles/129375 Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has introduced a bill to rein in banks' overdraft fees, saying the penalties for overdrawing accounts are abusive and can hit customers with hundreds of dollars in charges before they even know their accounts are short on funds. http://www.law360.com/articles/129375 http://www.law360.com/articles/129370 Roche International Ltd. has hit Credit Suisse Group AG with a lawsuit in the U.S. alleging the bank's brokers fraudulently invested more than $545 million of the Swiss drugmaker's funds into risky auction rate securities. http://www.law360.com/articles/129370 http://www.law360.com/articles/128684 Either the Supreme Court or Congress must acknowledge the frequent injustices being caused by the Twombly and Iqbal plausibility standard — especially in cases involving guilty plea and amnesty applicant antitrust defendants, say Michael D. Hausfeld and Michael P. Lehmann of Hausfeld LLP and law clerk Spencer Jenkins. http://www.law360.com/articles/128684 http://www.law360.com/articles/128974 A putative class of consumers has hit First Data Corp. and the banks in its ATM network with an amended antitrust complaint alleging a conspiracy to fix interchange fees, this time saying consumers can't escape the "supracompetitive" fees by taking their business elsewhere. http://www.law360.com/articles/128974 http://www.law360.com/articles/128264 A federal judge has granted Wells Fargo & Co.'s request to toss credit card payment processor Elavon Inc.'s tortious interference and punitive damages claims from its breach of contract suit accusing Wells Fargo of causing Wachovia Bank NA to wrongfully terminate its exclusive referral agreement with Elavon during the banks' 2008 merger. http://www.law360.com/articles/128264 http://www.law360.com/articles/127782 Young Broadcasting Inc.'s unsecured creditors have filed a plan of reorganization challenging the company's plan to sell its assets to its senior lenders for $220 million, proposing instead to reinstate the lenders' debt and sell substantially all of the equity in the reorganized company to its noteholders through a rights offering that would raise $38 million in new capital. http://www.law360.com/articles/127782 http://www.law360.com/articles/127296 JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a settlement that ends a multistate investigation of claims that the bank concealed the liquidity risks of investing in the doomed auction rate securities market, agreeing to offer full ARS buybacks to the tune of $480 million. http://www.law360.com/articles/127296 http://www.law360.com/articles/127162 Inventor Leon Stambler has launched another expansive infringement suit against a slew of retailers — including Target Corp., Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. — accusing them of violating two patents related to keeping information secure during online transactions. http://www.law360.com/articles/127162