The ginormous California pension fund already has a pending $430 million claim in Lehman's bankruptcy, but now it's going after the folks who presided over Lehman's demise, as well as the underwriters who facilitated it.

Already facing a securities class action and a lawsuit by New York's attorney general, Ernst & Young is now hit with claims by the investment firm led by former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg. Starr International seeks damages for losses on $200 million in Lehman securities that it bought in June 2008.

Two new California state court suits filed by Grais were the subject of a Sunday New York Times column that noted his strategy of steering clear of hard-to-prove fraud allegations. But there are still a raft of defense firms standing between Grais and a big payday.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas accuses the banks that were supposed to provide it with $790 million in revolving financing of falsely claiming the project was in default. For Kasowitz Benson, it's another chance to take on litigation against banks, a favorite target of the firm.

Court-appointed trustees in big-ticket bankruptcies are taking bold steps to recover billions from alleged malefactors on Wall Street and beyond.