Is the Senator from Pennsylvania--who recently introduced a Stoneridge rollback amendment to the financial reform bill--a tool of the plaintiffs bar? Apparently, the corporate lawyers who've given him hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2005 didn't get that memo.

Twice before, the securities class action has been tossed without prejudice. This time, a new judge said the plaintiffs are out of chances.

Judge Kevin Castel produced a 140-page opus in denying big chunks of the bank's motion to dismiss in August. So it's not a big surprise that he didn't look very kindly on BofA's request that he take another crack at it.

Don't get too excited: Most of the money in the settlement will go to holders of U.S.-traded American Depository Shares. But for investors who bought Satyam shares overseas, a 90 percent discounted recovery is still better than nothing.

It looks like the logjam of litigation filed over mortgage-backed securities is beginning to break. This appears to be the first class settlement of claims by investors in these securities.

For the second time in less than a week, a Delaware Chancery Court judge had harsh words for a CEO seeking to sell his company in a multibillion-dollar deal, but stopped short of blocking the proposed sale.

Mortgage-backed securities plaintiffs scored their fourth securities class action settlement since the start of the financial crisis on Monday. But the deal with Deutsche Bank is also the smallest yet.