Black brokers lose appeal in bias case vs. BofA/Merrill Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:37pm EDT (Reuters) - A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp by black financial advisers at the former Merrill Lynch & Co, who claimed they were paid lower bonuses than white counterparts to stay on when the companies merged. Tuesday's decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a March 2011 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in that city. The black brokers had complained that their retention bonuses were based on prior levels of "production," or fees earned on client assets. They said these bonuses were depressed because of earlier discrimination by Merrill, including its alleged steering of lucrative accounts to white brokers. Reporting By Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Maureen Bavdek