In every industry, there are investors and users of the product and services, most of the time both believe or tend to believe the price is set by what the market can bear, but once in a while people think something is off. If they invest millions of dollars, they send in their lawyers to investigate.

In an article by Jonathan Stempel of Reuters, US District Court Valerie Caproni in Manhattan, dismissed a long running litigation by investors who accused HSBC and Bank of Nova Scotia of conspiring to fix silver prices.

Investors had accused HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia and Deutsche Bank of manipulating silver prices from 2007 to 2013. The litigation began in 2014, Deutsche Bank settled for $38 million in 2016, the others kept the law suit moving on.

In a 24 page ruling, the judge found the investors unable to trace their losses to bank’s alleged effort to depress the fix, which set the prices for silver bars and trade derivatives based on advance knowledge of the price fix.

The Justice said the investors did not show it was plausible, as opposed to merely possible.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all profitable companies are sued and they all have a legal department. Just because they are sued does not make them guilty, it has to be proven in court. For investors, if the company is sued, money is set aside in case they are found guilty, but generally it takes years for lawsuits to go to court and the court make a decision. Investments should not be made on what the Judge will decide, often you will be wrong. If the lawsuit is material, it is best to look at alternative investments and wait till the settlement is handed down.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.