A group of bondholders who have made sensational allegations that JPMorgan schemed to take advantage of Washington Mutual Bank don't have to exhaust administrative remedies, the court rules.

Manhattan federal district court judge Harold Baer appeared sympathetic to the claims against the ratings agencies, but explained that he was bound by existing law to dismiss those claims.

Siding with a coalition of retail groups represented by Steptoe & Johnson, a judge in Washington ruled that the Federal Reserve shouldn't have adopted rules that he said inflated debit card transaction fees by billions of dollars.