The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion. Appeal from a grant of summary judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Southern Distri

Decided and Entered: November 22, 2006 98041 ________________________________ In the Matter of ANTHONY L. CLAPES et al., Petitioners, v TAX APP

We knew the Justice Department had been using the False Claims Act and piggybacking on whistleblower suits to go after big players in the mortgage crisis. Now we have a better idea of the extent of the campaign, thanks to the documents that the DOJ filed Monday in connection with last month's $25 billion foreclosure settlement.

HSBC and its lawyers at Cleary Gottlieb have struggled for months to win court approval for a class action settlement with Thema International Fund Investors, and they hoped to persuade the judge one last time even after he'd dismissed the plaintiffs claims last month. Thanks to a ruling Friday by Manhattan federal district court judge Richard Berman, it looks like they may not get another chance.

Russia's claims to the famed Stolichnaya vodka trademark in the U.S. were put on ice by a federal appellate ruling on Monday.

Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P. RUTH C. BALKIN THOMAS A. DICKERSON ARIEL E.