Wall Street players and MainStreet-dwelling investors are wondering what the potential confirmation of President Obama's U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, means for their moneyhttp://www.bankingmyway.com/save/savings/10-commandments-personal-finance.

One reason Sotomayor is being considered is her expertise in handling financial and economic cases.

Sotomayor once worked as an assistant district attorney for Robert Morganthau - noted as one of the most aggressive New York district attorney’s in policing Wall Street.

Later, President George H. W. Bush appointed her to the federal bench, where she spent 17 years working in a federal courthouse located literally in the shadows of Wall Street. The court is one of the top appeals courts, particularly in corporate and securities law.

Case-wise, Sotomayor’s paper trail for financial issues reveals some sympathy to financial companies. That’s particularly so in the insurance industry, where Sotomayor has a lengthy record protecting the interest of insurers and voting against policyholders.

Insurance cases
In Greenidge v. Allstate Ins. Co., (2d. Cir. 2004), Sotomayor ruled for the insurance company in a case that involved a dispute between an apartment complex owner being sued by a tenant over lead poisoning issues. Allstate  (Stock Quote: ALL) said a policy was only worth $300,000. A jury awarded the renter’s family $2 million. Sotomayor wound up ruling in favor of Allstate in the case.

In a personal injury case,  Mount Vernon Fire Ins. Co. v. Chios Constr. Corp., 1996  (S.D.N.Y.), Sotomayor made it clear that Mount Vernon was not liable on coverage insurance for a workplace accident. The case involved a subcontractor working on a job site who got injured. In her opinion in favor of the insurer, Sotomayor wrote there was “not even a metaphysical possibility” that a subcontractor’s injury had to be paid for by the general contractor’s insurer.
 
Other Corporate Cases
Sotomayor’s rulings in other corporate financial cases, notably Dabit vs. Merrill Lynch and Miles vs. Merrill Lynch, reveal an open mind. In the former, Sotomayor sided with investors and against securities industry class-action lawyers in a ruling that was later overturned 8-0 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But in a major class-action lawsuit by investor against securities brokers accused of orchestrating bid-ups in initial public offerings, Sotomayor ruled for Merrill Lynch (Stock Quote: MER), citing the need for a higher standard of proof for plaintiffs in the case.

Personal Financial Matters
Casework aside, maybe Judge Sotomayor’s most interesting link to Wall Street is via a bank checking account for $65,000 in 2008, with investment income of only $1,000 from interest earned on the savings and checking account balances. That’s not the usual financial pedigree from a potential U.S. Supreme Court Justice – further proof, perhaps, that a Justice Sotomayor won’t be easily pegged, one way or another, on corporate financial cases that appear before the highest court in the land.

Is it possible Judge Sotomayor might need to spend more time on her finances? 

For your best shot at a great mortgage rate, check out the BankingMyWay Mortgage Rate Search.

— For more ways to save, spend, invest and borrow, visit MainStreet.com.