The litigation equivalent of Halley's comet is about to streak into view in Manhattan federal district court. Yes, folks, when trial in the shareholder suit against Vivendi and two of its former executives begins this week before Judge Richard Holwell, it may be your once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness a so-called f-cubed securities class action trial, involving foreign investors who bought shares of foreign companies on foreign exchanges.

When Merck settled federal criminal claims relating to its Vioxx painkiller two years ago, it tried to maintain the attorney-client privilege on documents it turned over to the Justice Department. On Wednesday, a U.S. district court judge ruled that Merck shareholders could see those documents anyway, because a Third Circuit ruling bars the kind of deal that Merck made with the government.

Manhattan federal district court judge Laura Taylor Swain acknowledged that two judges in her district had ruled that the statute of repose is an absolute bar to securities suits filed more than three years after the issue date. But she disagreed with those rulings, and held that the statute was tolled under the American Pipe doctrine by the filing of a purported class action suit against Morgan Stanley.

Three recent securities class action filings against nonfinancial defendants, all involving class periods that ended in 2007, led D&O Diary to wonder if plaintiffs firms were just getting to a batch of cases they'd deferred in the frenzy to file against banks. One prominent plaintiffs lawyer says no way.

The plaintiffs failed to pin liability on three financial officers of Horizon Lines, and the company, for a price-fixing conspiracy devised by others.

Sullivan & Cromwell succeeded in knocking out a class action claim that UBS was liable for underwriting dubious HealthSouth bonds. But the judge's opinion doesn't exactly bode well for the bank in a related case.

David Frederick is rapidly becoming the new best friend of plaintiffs at the Supreme Court. His latest win--for Merck shareholders suing over the company's Vioxx disclosures--should open the door wider for the securities class action bar.