The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit handed plaintiffs securities lawyers a partial victory Wednesday, while one of his protégés handed them a flat-out defeat.

Rambus is asking the California Court of Appeal to revive its price-fixing case against Micron and SK Hynix, saying that lower courts erred by excluding evidence that its alleged co-conspirators pleaded guilty to federal charges. Rambus also accuses Hynix of improperly striking two of the three African-American members of the jury pool, in part because Rambus' lead trial counsel was African-American.