You know how this works: You're a shareholder in a major company -- let's say a major video game publisher like ... Midway Games -- and while the suits assure you that, despite lagging sales and a lousy portfolio, everything's going to be "OK!"

Things started looking dodgy when CEO David Zucker abandoned ship in March of 2008. "Everything okay in there?" you ask. "Yup, everything's fine," Midway responded, while installing Matt Booty into the position. Then chairwoman Shari Redstone, daughter of owner Sumner Redstone, resigned in November 2008. "Alright, this sounds really bad!" you cried. "Seriously, don't worry. It's fine," Midway responded (they'd put Booty in that position in January of the following year). And then, in December, Sumner Redstone sold his shares in the now clearly troubled publisher for the bargain basement price of $100,000 to mysterious investor Mark Thomas ... and then, the layoffs began.

So now you, and the rest of the shareholders in NYSE: MWY want to hold the executives who kept you in the dark accountable. According to Develop, after months of hearing allegations, District Court judge David H. Coar found five Midway executives – including former CEO David Zucker and CFO Thomas Powell – "innocent of conspiracy to deceive the public about the health of the fallen company." The reason? The shareholders had not "adequately alleged the direct liability" of the execs.

Okay, so it wasn't a "conspiracy" (or whatever other fancy law school words the "law" requires) but we understand your pain. Now, have we told you about the opportunities at Joystiq Publishing ...