Peter Henning comes up with that apt description of Bruce Carton’s analysis of the black hole that is developing in the securities litigation arena, where litigation seemingly begets litigation about the original litigation. The latest example is speculation over Milberg Weiss becoming a class action target as a result of the criminal investigation into the firm’s handling of dozens of class actions over the years. Cracks Bruce, “Presumably the lawyers bringing any shareholder lawsuit against Milberg would be . . . lawyers who only file non-frivolous lawsuits seeking non-outrageous punitive damages.”
In discussing all of this, Bruce refers to this hilarious Toronto Globe and Mail commentary on the imminent securities class action against CIBC that will claim damages caused by CIBC’s recent generous settlement of claims against it in the Enron securities class action lawsuit:

While CIBC’s shareholders may indeed have the right to feel like they’re stuck in the intensive care unit without health coverage, the logic in taking this to court would seem distinctly fuzzy. If they blame the Enron settlement for hitting the value of their shares, what happens when their lawsuit is launched? Won’t the share price drop even further? And when that happens, shouldn’t they sue themselves? And eventually, won’t they have to end up paying billions to themselves to have their own lawsuit go away?
In the end, CIBC’s share price would be sucked in on itself and go into negative territory, a kind of financial black hole that only Stephen Hawking would understand.