In a big win for the securities industry, the Supreme Court on Monday sided with Credit Suisse and other investment banks and dismissed an antitrust class action filed by IPO investors.
By a 7-1 vote in Credit Suisse Securities v. Billing, the Court gave the banks broad implied immunity from antitrust lawsuits, ruling that antitrust laws do not apply to the syndication and marketing techniques used in initial public offerings. The Court justified its conclusion in part on the grounds that the Securities and Exchange Commission is better qualified than judges and juries in antitrust cases to determine the legality of conduct in the complex field of initial offerings.
