CHICAGO - Chicago has decided to withdraw as a plaintiff from one of two class action lawsuits filed last week by seven issuers in federal district court against dozens of banks, brokers, insurance companies, and investment advisory firms charging that they conspired to fix derivative products.
Chicago planned to file a motion asking the court to drop it as a plaintiff in the larger lawsuit that names nearly three dozen firms as defendants yesterday. The city will remain a defendant on the lawsuit filed by the same issuers against Bank of America.
"Due to developments late in the day" Friday, city law department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said Chicago would ask to be dropped as a plaintiff from the non-Bank of America lawsuit. "We will remain a named plaintiff in the Bank of America lawsuit and continue to monitor the other case," she said yesterday
Hoyle declined to provide any additional information as to the city's decision to withdraw from the one case while remaining in the other. On Friday, Hoyle said it was the lead law firm, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll PLLC, that had approached the city about joining the litigation and the city felt it was important to participate.
The two suits, one of which is against Bank of America, and the other against 36 additional companies, were filed March 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. While seven issuers are listed as plaintiffs, lawyers are working to get other state and local governments to join the suits that charge the firms conspired to fix the muni derivatives market in violation of federal antitrust laws.
