PricewaterhouseCooopers is likely to face a lawsuit from the former shareholders of conglomerate Tyco International following a ruling by a federal judge.

The ruling opens the way for investors who bought Tyco stock between 13 December 1999 and 7 June 2002 to join the lawsuit.

Some estimates from the period, claim that stock losses totaled some $60bn (£32bn), WebCPA reported.

Tyco said it would continue to defend itself against the charges.

In April Tyco said it would $50m (£27m) to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company inflated its earnings by more than $1bn (£541m) between 1996 and 2002.

Last September Tyco's former chief executive Dennis Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz were convicted of fraud whereby they inflated the company's stock price through bad accounting and awarding themselves huge bonuses.