The Securities and Exchange Commission wanted to add an additional charge to its complaint against Bank of America, saying the that the bank failed to disclose what it called “extraordinary losses” at Merril Lynch to stockholders prior to the vote to merge with the company. After a one hour hearing on the issue, the judge ruled against the SEC saying that splitting the focus of the trial between two charges would be confusing to the jury. The SEC can bring this new charge in a separate trial.

The trial, which focuses on the $3.6 billion paid out to Merril executives in bonuses prior to the merger will go ahead as scheduled on March 1.