Legal Beagles Bite JPMorgan

But the bank opted to roll the dice and wait to see how the judge ruled on a series of motions. The bank's wait-and-see strategy proved costly, when the judge ruled that the bank could potentially be on the hook for up to $10 billion in damages if the case went to trial. JPMorgan quickly settled a few days after the ruling.

Meanwhile, the JPMorgan settlement isn't the only one cast into a bit of jeopardy by the appellate ruling.

Two years ago, the plaintiffs in the IPO case reached a tentative $1 billion settlement with the insurers for 309 mostly dot-com companies. One of the companies included in that preliminary deal was TheStreet.com(TSCM Quote), publisher of this Web site.