A judge has dismissed Enron investors' long-running legal claims against three big financial firms over their dealings with the collapsed American energy trader.
Credit Suisse, Barclays and Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America, were granted summary judgement and the case against them was thrown out, according to the ruling by a US district judge,
The judge's ruling does not affect more than $US7 billion in combined settlements that a group of other financial companies, including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co, agreed to pay Enron investors previously to settle the litigation.
Those settlements were the biggest ever in US securities litigation, and much of that money has already been distributed.
Enron investors had continued to press their case against the remaining bank defendants in hopes of securing more money for pension funds, individuals and others who lost money on the Texas energy company's 2001 collapse.
