Laborers sought $1 billion in unpaid World War II wages

                  Bloomberg News

                  SAN FRANCISCO – A judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking to recover as
                  much as $1 billion for Mexican laborers who worked in America during
                  World War II and say they weren't fully paid.

                  U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted requests by the Mexican and
                  U.S. governments and Wells Fargo Bank to dismiss breach-of-contract and
                  other claims filed against them by the braceros, Spanish for "arms."

                  The laborers said money withheld from their wages was never sent to
                  savings accounts that were supposed to be set up at Mexican banks. They
                  said the money was lost to corruption in the Mexican government and said
                  U.S. officials knew about it and did nothing.

                  "The court does not doubt that many braceros never received savings
                  funds withholdings to which they were entitled," Judge Breyer said in an
                  order signed Friday but not released until Wednesday. "However, just as
                  a court's power to correct injustice is derived from the law, a court's power
                  is circumscribed by the law as well."

                  The Mexican government is protected from suits in U.S. courts, and Wells
                  Fargo, which sent the money, can't be held liable, Judge Breyer said.
                  Claims against the U.S. government were filed too late, he said.