Opening its new term with old business, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to restrict lawsuits in federal courts by foreign victims of human rights violations committed abroad.

Did Barclays dupe Lehman's bankruptcy court judge and scheme its way to a megabucks windfall when it bought Lehman's broker-dealer business in Sept. 2008? Or did the Lehman estate fling unfounded after-the-fact accusations at its white knight? The two sides make their last, best case before Judge James Peck.

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.

After two years of take-no-prisoners litigation, there is not much the lawyers for Apple and Samsung can agree on. But a rare moment of solidarity between rivals occurred Tuesday as the tech giants joined in urging the Federal Circuit to block the public disclosure of court filings that contain sensitive financial data.

Hedge funds that lost billions shorting Volkswagen stock haven't been easily dissuaded from going after Porsche, which pumped up VW's share price in a botched takeover bid. On Wednesday a group of funds that opted for state court cleared a crucial hurdle, when Porsche's lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell lost a bid to dismiss fraud and unjust enrichment claims that could be worth well north of $1 billion.

The odds of a surprise turnaround for the banks fighting the Federal Housing Finance Agency are looking slimmer and slimmer.

In its biggest suit yet, the National Credit Union Administration claims Bear Stearns sold $3.6 billion in shoddy mortgage-backed securities to four failed credit unions. But just like the cases that the Federal Housing Finance Agency brought against a slew of banks, the NCUA suits are in limbo as federal appeals courts weigh whether the agencies waited too long to sue.