It has been a bad month for nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs) as plaintiffs pummeled Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Corp. and Fitch Ratings with lawsuits in state courts, seeking damages for allegedly fraudulent investment ratings of pre-crisis non-agency MBS. On July 9, liquidators of two Bear Stearns funds sued the three rating agencies and their parent companies in New York state court for more than $1.12 billion in damages, as well as punitive damages, over allegedly inflated ratings of purportedly “high grade” securities. Geoffrey Varga and Mark Longbottom, the joint official liquidators of Bear Stearns, brought...[Includes one data chart]