Law360, New York ( August 5, 2015, 9:55 PM EDT) -- In an interesting opinion addressing several of the critical issues in the U.S. securities lawsuit arising out of Petrobras bribery scandal, on July 30, 2015, Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff denied in part and grated in part the defendants' motions to dismiss. Among other things, Judge Rakoff rejected the company's "adverse interest" argument, in which the company had tried to argue that the complicit corporate executives' knowledge of the bribery scheme and consequent awareness of the misrepresentations of the company's financial condition could not be attributed to the company. However, Judge Rakoff dismissed the claims asserted under Brazilian law on behalf of shareholders who purchased their Petrobras shares on the Bovespa, the Sao Paulo Stock exchange, ruling that these shareholders' claims were subject to the mandatory arbitration clause in the company's bylaws. A copy of Judge Rakoff's opinion can be found here....