Combined with a previously reported $90 million deal with Lehman directors and officers, a proposed settlement disclosed Friday with a slew of underwriters would bring the plaintiffs' combined recoveries in the case to $507 million. Next up for co-counsel at Bernstein Litowitz and Kessler Topaz? Claims against underwriter UBS and Lehman auditor Ernst & Young.

After thumbing through Webster's Dictionary, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff rejected arguments by Bank of America that prosecutors were misinterpreting a key provision of the Financial Institutional Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act in order to pursue fraud claims against the bank.

Plaintiffs have been on a roll lately with claims that major banks wrongly denied loan modifications under a federal program meant to slow the tide of foreclosures. But this week Bank of America scored a big defense victory, fending off a bid to certify a massive consolidated class action brought by borrowers in 26 states.

Unsecured creditors for the bankrupt homebuilder claimed that Tousa fraudulently transferred assets to the banks that lent it $500 million in 2007. After a 13-day bench trial this summer, a federal bankruptcy judge agreed--in a ruling that may cost the banks almost $700 million.