The judge agreed: "The plaintiffs can point to nothing in those exchanges that indicates a threat from management that future business would be withheld by HP from Deutsche Bank," he wrote.
However, Chandler said the evidence raised troubling questions "about the integrity of the internal ethical wall that purportedly separates Deutsche Bank's asset management division from its commercial division."
To support his claim that HP misled investors about the chances the Compaq merger would generate its promised financial benefits, lawyers for Hewlett cited internal projections that showed the deal falling far short of its publicly disclosed targets.
Hewlett's team introduced internal memos from Compaq's chief financial officer, Jeff Clarke, calling the projections "ugly" and "a disaster."
But Clarke, Fiorina and Wayman testified that the negative comments were motivational ploys. They also said the weak projections were drawn up by HP and Compaq managers who intentionally set low targets they knew they could beat.
The judge said he found HP's explanation "compelling" and "corroborated by evidence in the record."
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