A lot of plaintiffs lawyers in the burgeoning litigation over mortgage-backed bonds have eschewed fraud claims, opting instead for contract allegations that don't require a showing of scienter. Robins Kaplan went for fraud--and on Friday its strategy was vindicated.

The "everybody else was doing it too" defense is usually a long shot. But in a False Claims Act case alleging that the company paid kickbacks to the national pharmacy Omnicare, Johnson & Johnson's lawyers at Nixon Peabody want a judge to compel the Justice Department to fork over documents to back J&J's claims that its actions amounted to business-as-usual.