As a defendant in a lawsuit, whether guilty or innocent, the financial and emotional burdens of defending oneself can be devastating.  Now, here we have BNY Mellon, facing 8 separate federal lawsuits, all accusing the bank of routinely overcharging clients on forex trades.  Quite an undertaking - regardless of the bank's guilt or innocence. Fortunately the defendant bank's request has been granted and all 8 lawsuits have been moved to Manhattan federal court - transferred on Monday by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, according to an order made public on Tuesday.  The panel said it found common questions of fact in cases filed in New York, California, and Pennsylvania. "All actions share factual issues arising from allegations concerning BNY Mellon's provision of foreign exchange services to its clients," the order said. BNY Mellon and State Street got into trouble by promoting seemingly lower wholesale-type pricing on small, retail-size forex trades called standing instruction transactions.  So-called negotiated trades, used by larger forex traders, account for most of the banks' volume, but standing instructions are usually much more profitable. Pension funds in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, for example, claim the banks got their high profit margins by loading them up with hidden price markups.  Both banks have said those claims have no merit. In January, BNYMellon and federal prosecutors in New York reached a partial settlement over civil fraud charges brought by the government.  Both sides agreed that the bank would disclose how it determines prices for certain transactions.  There was no mention of a monetary settlement, but the court documents said the parties were continuing discussions.  The government seek hundreds of millions in civil penalties. The case is: Clark et al v Hassell et al in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York No. 12-md-02335.  [Reuters, 4/17/12]