After a three-judge appellate panel reinstated a property owner's class action alleging that oil and chemical companies contributed to Hurricane Katrina's ferocity, the Fifth Circuit granted the defendants' motion to rehear the case en banc. Then, because it couldn't muster enough judges to hear it, the appellate court dismissed the appeal.

BofA is asking some of its select outside law firms to give the company a credit on its annual legal fees, based on the amount of customer business sent to the law firms. Some experts say that practice is highly unusual and ethically suspect.