Last year, we wrote about insider trading allegations against a number of current and former European Aeronautic Defense & Space (EADS) executives. This has been a huge issue in Europe for quite some time, as EADS is one of the largest defense contractors in the world and the parent of Airbus. The controversy is so big, in fact, that it’s skipped across the pond to the United States.

The insider trading allegations stemmed from the delay of the Airbus A380, a new jumbo jet. Back in 2005, several EADS executives sold massive amounts of stock just before the public announcement of the A380 delay, which caused Airbus stock to plummet.

Recently, two U.S. law firms have entered the fracas by filing suit against EADS. One case was filed by the law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins of San Diego, and the other by the law firm Dreier of New Yorker, both on behalf of U.S. shareholders that own EADS shares on European Exchanges. The two suits are seeking class-action status.

Currently, French regulators are looking into the actions of the companies, which may pose a problem for the U.S. suits.

Bloomberg News reported the following:

“Even if U.S. rules allow them to ask for higher damages, I think we’re more likely to actually win them,” Frederik-Karel Canoy said today in a telephone interview. “Because of the on-going criminal investigation in France, the evidence will all be kept here. I don’t see how we can collaborate on it.”

The U.S. attorneys shot back:

Dreier lawyer Brian Kerr in a telephone interview today [said] that he and his clients “don’t see why we need to wait until the French judicial system comes to its conclusion to bring our claims.”