Rambus's $240 million settlement with rival SK Hynix most likely leaves both sides a bit dissatisfied, but at least they can turn the page on a grinding court fight that's generated fees for several Am Law 200 firms.

It's been a tough slog through the courts for a group of pharmacy plaintiffs with antitrust claims against some of the biggest drug companies in the land. Plaintiffs lawyer Joseph Alioto stuck with the case for nearly a decade, including through two trips to the California Supreme Court. Now he's finally run out of appeals.

"From the defense perspective, Eli Lilly was stuck between a rock and a hard place in this case," said Winston & Strawn partner James Hurst, who represented generic maker Sun Pharmaceuticals.

Tuesday was supposed to be the day that the federal government showed it's getting tougher on Wall Street malefactors. But we just kept getting reminded of how doggedly private lawyers have been hounding the banks at the center of the financial crisis.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in two cases that Rambus improperly destroyed millions of pages of documents in advance of litigation, and sent the cases back to the lower courts.

In an usual obstruction of justice plea, Forest admitted that it gave inaccurate information to FDA officials during the approval process for one of its drugs.