The lawsuit stemmed from Citi's massive mortgage-backed asset write-downs in November 2007. Manhattan federal district court judge Sidney Stein dismissed the suit because it didn't name the directors as of September 2009, when Judge Stein allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint. "Plaintiffs do not correctly identify the members of that board, an easily verifiable fact," the judge wrote.

Plaintiffs come up one vote short in their effort to get the appellate court to reconsider its sweeping ruling that corporations cannot be liable under the Alien Tort Statute.

Akin Gump triggered a worldwide criminal probe back in 2008 when it accused Pittsburgh-based Alcoa of racketeering and fraud on behalf of Aluminium Bahrain. On Tuesday, the firm beat prosecutors to the punch yet again, wresting a long-awaited settlement from Alcoa.