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Simpson Thacher recently achieved a significant victory in a series of Uruguayan litigations that the firm has been spearheading since 2002 on behalf of rating agency client, Moody's Investors Service, Inc. Following the collapse in 2002 of Banco de Montevideo, one of the largest private banks in Uruguay, an economic rescission in Uruguay coupled with an internal fraud within the Bank led investors in the Bank to initiate approximately 35 lawsuits in Uruguay against the Bank, the Central Bank of Uruguay and Moody's to recover investments (mostly bank deposits and bonds) totaling approximately $80 million. Plaintiffs claimed they had relied in making their investments in the Bank on Moody's ratings of the Bank's term deposits, and sought to recover their investments from Moodys on a tort theory. Judgment in the first case to reach the merits was rendered on March 23, 2007. The Court held both the Bank and the Central Bank of Uruguay liable for plaintiffs' losses, but dismissed all of plaintiffs' claims against our client Moody's. In dismissing the claims against Moody's, the Court adopted virtually all of Moody's defenses both on the law and on the facts. The judgment is an important precedent because it is the first non-US decision worldwide on the liability of a rating agency to investors who allegedly rely on its ratings in making investments.

The successful Simpson Thacher team for Moody's consisted of Robert Smit, Tyler Robinson and Sara Ricciardi.