Law360, New York (June 27, 2011) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a group of investment banks' challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling in a case involving initial public offerings with broader implications for shareholder derivative suits brought after the statute of limitations codified in federal securities laws.

The high court agreed to hear an appeal of a December decision reviving 24 lawsuits that were part of a consolidated securities action over initial public offerings of 54 companies in the late 1990s on the grounds that a lower court incorrectly dismissed them with prejudice based on the underwriters' assertion that the two-year statute of limitations had elapsed for the claims. The suits alleged that the underwriters engaged in prohibited short-swing transactions.

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