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Julie Cohen
Director of Marketing and Communications
212.701.3614
jcohen@cahill.com

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Claims Against the McGraw-Hill Companies

Date: 10/01/13

Cahill represented The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (McGraw-Hill) in an affirmance of the dismissal of intentional and negligent misrepresentation claims against McGraw-Hill in connection with credit ratings published by its subsidiary Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on certain corporate bonds purchased by plaintiffs in Grassi v. Moody’s Investor’s Services.

On October 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California’s decision to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim, holding that plaintiffs-appellants had not satisfied the pleading requirements under Rules 8(a) and 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In the opinion, the Court noted that the complaint contained “very few allegations of facts” and was "nothing more than labels and conclusions."

In addition to securing this appeal, Cahill has also won dismissals of all claims against S&P in more than twenty other litigations.

Julie Cohen
Director of Marketing and Communications
212.701.3614
jcohen@cahill.com