On January 26, 2010, Judge Barbara S. Jones of the Southern District of New York, granted motions to dismiss two substantially identical complaints brought on behalf of putative classes of issuers of, and investors in, auction rate securities. The complaints, which brought claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, alleged that eleven investment banks were part of a conspiracy to artificially support the auction rate securities market and to jointly withdraw their support for the market in February 2008. In dismissing the two putative class actions, the court found that the plaintiffs' antitrust claims were precluded by the securities laws, and that, therefore, plaintiffs' suit could not proceed. The court held that the four factor test recently adopted by the Supreme Court in
Credit Suisse Secs. (USA) LLC v. Billing, 127 S. Ct. 2383 (2007) compelled the conclusion that there was a clear repugnancy between the securities laws and antitrust laws with respect to the conduct alleged in the complaints.
Simpson Thacher represented JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the action.
The STB team consists of Thomas C. Rice, Peter H. Bresnan, Jonathan K. Youngwood, Hillary C. Mintz, Ian R. Dattner, Sonya Mirbagheri and Kerry Follain, with valuable assistance from paralegals Nicole Forbes and Austin Leach. Mr. Youngwood argued the motion on behalf of all the defendants before Judge Jones in November 2009.