Overstock.com settles part of feud

As it ends part of long-running legal war, Overstock's case against a short-selling hedge fund rolls on. (NEW YORK) Fortune -- A chapter in one of Wall Street's more bitter and colorful legal sagas ended Monday when Internet retailer Overstock.com and independent research outfit Gradient Analytics settled their differences. Overstock sued Scottsdale-based Gradient and then-Millburn, N.J.-based hedge fund Rocker Partners (now known as Copper River) in August 2005 for allegedly colluding to defame Overstock and drive down its share price. Specifically, the suit claimed that Gradient's series of research reports on Overstock - which, beginning in 2003, were uniformly critical of its accounting and governance - were timed to benefit a group of its short-selling clients, including Rocker. It also alleged that Gradient made drafts... [read full story]