Already burdened with a USD2.46 billion judgment over an 11 year old securities fraud case, HSBC Holdings Plc is now set to litigate claims over the same case as a US judge allowed more evidentiary exchanges in preparaton for a follow up trial.

A Chicago federal grand jury ruled in 2009 that executives at Household International, which was absorbed by HSBC Finance Corp, had mislead investors in violation of US securities laws. After a tedious four year claims review process, US District Judge Ronald Guzman had decided to grant a payout of USD2.46 billion on some of the claims.

Today, the judge ordered the party litigants to undergo discovery in order to find resolution to 200 other claims on the fraud committed. The judge nixed a request from HSBC lawyers to delay the discovery process until a federal appeals court rules on the appeal made by HSBC on Guzman's verdict. 

According to Judge Guzman, "Eleven years is a long time. Let's move forward with discovery." He further said that the appeal would be decided on before the remaining 200 claims would go to trial.