A class of Toyota owners says the cars have lost value since last winter's recall for sudden acceleration, so they deserve damages. Toyota's Alston & Bird lawyers, however, assert plaintiffs can't collect unless there's something wrong with their cars--and most class members can't show any defect.

A federal judge in Brooklyn agreed Thursday to certify classes of direct and indirect purchasers in a set of suits accusing four Chinese manufacturers of joining a cartel to fix prices for vitamin C. The litigation has drawn a rare U.S. court appearance by the Chinese government, which hired Sidley Austin to back the companies' defense.

Most of the world's most powerful private equity firms must face an investor class action alleging that they conspired to drive down buy-out prices for publicly traded companies, a federal judge in Boston ruled Thursday.

Reports that UBS is close to reaching a deal with authorities investigating the alleged manipulation of global interest rates could be good news for private plaintiffs already pursuing LIBOR litigation against UBS and other institutions.

Those newly filed Merrill-related securities class actions aren't at the top of B of A's legal to-do list. First, the bank wants Robbins, Russell to erase that stinging asset-backed securities verdict.

The folks left out of the money in Washington Mutual Inc.'s proposed reorganization plan tried to exclude huge chunks of the testimony supporting a $7 billion settlement between WMI, JPMorgan, and the FDIC, arguing that it was based on privileged materials they weren't allowed to see. They get credit for trying--but not for succeeding.

It was inevitable that the collapse of the $300 billion auction-rate securities market in 2008 would trigger securities litigation. But the ARS freeze also spawned a massive antitrust case, after a trio of plaintiffs firms cooked up a theory that the market's demise was triggered by an illegal boycott on the part of major banks.

Plaintiffs lawyers don't like an opt-in feature of the $160 million settlement between UBS and states attorneys general, concerned it may unfairly siphon claimants out of their antitrust class action. A lawyer for New York state accuses those lawyers of "fabricating reasons" to oppose the settlement.

A consolidated antitrust class action against four Chinese vitamin C makers case got smaller--but no less interesting--when one of the defendants agreed to a $10.5 million settlement. "This is the first shoe to drop in a Chinese cartel case, and it's a $10 million shoe," said William Isaacson of Boies Schiller, co-lead counsel for the direct purchaser class.