US: LIBOR appeal to be heard by Supreme Court

Even though the consolidated case is still pending, the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from select plaintiffs in a LIBOR lawsuit. After 2011 and the London Interbank Offered Rate scandal, which found several banks manipulating LIBOR, a variety of investors have filed dozens of lawsuits against those banks.

In March of last year, one consolidated case saw its antitrust claims dismissed by US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, who found LIBOR to be a “cooperative endeavor” and therefore free of anticompetitive behavior and ineligible for any antitrust lawsuit. Some of the plaintiffs who had exclusively filed an antitrust suit went on to appeal the dismissal to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, but the appeal was dismissed.

The court announced that since not all of the claims had been dismissed, the case could not be appealed.The plaintiffs argued in their subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court that the appeals court was torn over “whether and when the dismissal of an action that has been consolidated with other actions is an appealable final order.”

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear the appeal and is expected to hold oral hearings when the October term begins.

Full Content: Reuters

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