Just who's covered by the whistle-blower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act? It depends who you ask.

Nearly four years after a judge rejected their usually-reliable First Amendment defense, Moody's and Standard & Poor's on Friday settled separate lawsuits accusing them of misleading investors in a pair of ill-fated structured investment vehicles backed by subprime mortgage debt.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's have lost their latest bid to employ California's anti-SLAPP statute to knock out claims brought by the nation's largest pension plan.

It was big news in May when a California state court judge rejected the rating agencies' First Amendment silver bullet and ruled that a $1.3 billion suit could proceed. But now he's decided that the suspect ratings are protected under California's anti-SLAPP law.

MBIA's lawyers at Quinn Emanuel have been fighting for two years to force Moody's and S&P to reveal the internal decision-making that led them to bless Countrywide's ill-fated mortgage-backed securities with AAA ratings. And thanks to a ruling by a New York state judge on Tuesday, it looks like they've succeeded.