Though Mr Lerach and his lead plaintiff, the University of California, plan an appeal to the Supreme Court, few legal experts think the justices will take up the case.
For example, it is unclear whether the sequencing of a whole genome infringes on the patents of individual genes within it, explains Chris Hansen of the American Civil Liberties Union, a plaintiff.
"Defensible or not," lamented Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor who argued for the plaintiff before the Supreme Court, "the court's fascination, not to say obsession, with the 'number theory' of punitive damages seems here to stay".Courts award punitive damages to punish and deter reprehensible conduct by defendants, over and above compensation to wounded plaintiffs.
So did Ecuador, which supplies many of Dole's bananas and which joined America as a plaintiff in the WTO case.
So was the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was a plaintiff, thanks to securities inherited in the rescue of AIG.
Some will also get reshaped floor-pans and a brake-override system.America's ever-eager plaintiff lawyers already have Toyota in their sights.
So was the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, too, was a plaintiff, thanks to securities inherited in the rescue of AIG.
Hardly life-threatening for Germany's biggest bank, but sobering for the industry".Ille Papier-Service brings Deutsche Bank to its knees", crowed the plaintiff, a small paper company based near Frankfurt, on its website.
Rather than promoting marital union, some think the law has damaged it by requiring the plaintiff to file for divorce.Cho Kuk, a lawyer at Seoul National University, says the law was evidence of a strong moralist tradition in the country's criminal code.
If a plaintiff can show that a member state, or the EU itself, is violating the charter in the way it applies the law, then it is open to a challenge before the ECJ.
They all have the same blue carpets, dark wood benches and American flags, identikit outposts of the Justice Department tucked away unannounced in office buildings.The system does a good job of giving each plaintiff a decent hearing.
