[ by Howard Haykin ] Federal Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald suspended several new lawsuits alleging banks rigged key interest rates, saying she first needed to sort through the issues in an earlier round of related lawsuits.  The judge, who issued the decision last Wednesday, is not precluding parties from filing new complaints - she, in fact, encourages them to do so promptly, according to the following statement:

"While parties are free to file new complaints - and, indeed, are encouraged by the court to do so if they do so promptly... I am imposing a stay on any action that is not the subject of a pending motion to dismiss.  This stay will last until the current motions to dismiss are resolved."

Judge Buchwald is overseeing several proposed class actions, some filed as far back as 2011, by plaintiffs that include some big investors and local governments.  She anticipates that the logjam will work itself out in the next few weeks.  The plaintiffs, including the city of Baltimore, say they were harmed in different ways by the banks' suspected manipulation of the benchmark London interbank offered rate, commonly known as Libor. Named Banks. Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, and UBS are among the banks being sued over Libor.  The rates are determined in London and serve as benchmarks for more than $350 trillion of securities from mortgages to complex derivatives.  In their defense, the banks have said in court papers that the plaintiffs have failed to show how the banks had acted to restrict competition, even if rates were misstated. The judge also said at the hearing that she had received a letter from the banks conceding that the plaintiffs be allowed in future filings to reference the $452 million Libor manipulation settlement agreed to by Barclays with the U.S.'s CFTC and U.K.'s FSA.  That deal was announced 6/27/12. The cases are consolidated under In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-md-2262. For further details, go to: [Reuters, 8/8/12].