McGraw-Hill Cos. Standard & Poor’s unit shouldn’t be allowed to move Connecticut’s lawsuit over ratings of securities to a federal court, the U.S. argued in a court filing, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. McGraw-Hill, based in New York, filed notices of removal in several courts to put the cases by Connecticut and other states under federal jurisdiction and combine them for pretrial matters, such as the exchange of evidence and questioning of witnesses. "It is tempting to find federal jurisdiction every time a multibillion-dollar case with national implications arrives at the doorstep of a federal court," the U.S. said in its filing yesterday in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut. "The jurisdiction of the federal district courts, however, is left to Congress, not to the discretion of the courts themselves." The lawsuits, filed by the attorneys general of 16 states and the District of Columbia, claim S&P violated state consumer-protection and unfair-trade-practices statutes. The U.S., in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, accuses S&P of inflating ratings on mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.
