On December 20, 2012, the Second Circuit affirmed a decision by Judge Sidney H. Stein of the Southern District of New York dismissing a putative class action suit alleging that Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services intentionally misled investors about the accuracy of its credit ratings for mortgage-backed securities.  The plaintiff pension fund, acting as a putative class representative of similarly situated shareholders, asserted claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 against S&P’s parent company, McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc., and two of its corporate officers.  The complaint alleges that defendants made false and misleading statements about the operations of S&P by concealing flaws in its rating methods.  Judge Stein ruled that plaintiff failed to prove the defendants made false statements in financial earnings or acted with knowledge of wrongdoing.  In particular, he found that statements promoting S&P’s independent and objective ratings were “mere commercial puffery” and could not form the basis of a securities fraud claim.  A Second Circuit panel issued a summary order affirming the decision, finding that the factual allegations did not give rise to a strong inference that McGraw-Hill executives misled investors about S&P’s services in order to artificially inflate McGraw-Hill’s stock price.  Order.