New York Judge Dismisses Most LIBOR Suits

July 22, 2013 • 9:21AM

A ruling April 1 by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has put the bulk of the lawsuits against the Libor interest-rating rigging, that has cost millions of people around the U.S. and the world untold hardship, in limbo. Judge Buchwald granted the banks' motion to dismiss most of the claims brought against them by 21 groups of plaintiffs.

According to a review of the decision, all the plaintiffs were united in alleging tht the banks violated antitrust laws by colluding to rig the benchmark rate. The Judge ruled that the owners of fixed and floating-rate securities tied to the Libor had no standing to bring antitrust claims—even though some of banks admitted to colluding and tampering with the Libor in their settlements with regulators.

The suits rejected included entities such as the City of Baltimore and the New Britain Firefighters and Police Benefit Fund. This class of plaintiff clearly suffered grave social damage as the result of the Libor rigging—and now have to seek other forms of redress.

There may be other forms available, but the crucial immediate one is political: bankrupt the predator banks with Glass-Steagall.