Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Western Australia Business News: Councils win Lehman court case

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Western Australia Business News: Councils win Lehman court case

Councils and charities involved in the collapse of Lehman Brothers Australia have had a win in the High Court today.

Litigation funder IMF (Australia) said the High Court dismissed an appeal against a Federal Court judgement that found the deed of company arrangement approved by creditors of Lehman Bros Australia was void and of no effect.

"It was argued by the Councils seeking to have the DOCA set aside that the DOCA was unfair and particularly prejudicial to the interests of those creditors with damages claims against Lehman Australia, principally being the local councils, charities and other investors in collateralised debt obligations marketed by Lehman Australia," IMF said.

"In particular, the councils argued that the DOCA could not contain terms which required creditors to release claims against other Lehman Group companies."

The High Court win now paves the way for the councils and charities, as clients of IMF to proceed action against Lehman Australia and other companies within the group.

The City of Melville was one council which used to be advised by Lehman and had paid more than $20 million for a portfolio of CDOs.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Town Councils, please go get our money back!; March 30, 2010 5:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Town councils increase the charges recently, is it becuase they lost our money in the debacle? Are they not doing something instead of raising the charges?; March 30, 2010 6:42 PM
Anonymous said...: What have our High Court done ?; March 30, 2010 7:06 PM
Anonymous said...: March 30,2010 7:06pm High Court cannot do anything until there is a case for hearing. You should ask : What has MAS done? I still think Investors in Singapore are pathetic for not taking legal action! They expect MAS to do everything.; March 30, 2010 8:12 PM
Anonymous said...: to 8;12pm, Corection, there are groups and individuals taking legal actions against FIs due to collapse of LB. these people are struggling financially and mentally.; March 31, 2010 10:10 AM
Lisa said...: Still unfair for many! Thanks for sharing the update. By the way, if your business needs some rewarding change, then it might interest you to consult the best Australian business coach who is continuously changing lives for the better. Good luck!; March 31, 2010 5:38 PM
Anonymous said...: 10:10am March 31
While agreeing there are groups and individuals taking legal actions against FI's, let us salute them! There are groups (free riders or not)waiting at the sidelines for the outcome of the court case. These people are not struggling financially and mentally. They are opportunist!; March 31, 2010 6:07 PM
Anonymous said...: To: 6.07pm
The town councils are sitting on the sidelines.

Are they free-loading opportunists?; March 31, 2010 7:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Anyone has more information on this Australian case, could you please share with us. Where can we get a copy of the judgement ? It is quite similar to the Singapore case now pending.; March 31, 2010 8:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, where can we get a copy of the judgement, so that our lawyers could use as refernce should our legal case in Singapore proceed to the Court.; March 31, 2010 10:28 PM
Anonymous said...: If the FA/RMs in FIs were trained by Lehman Brothers that Minibond are bonds from 6 reference entities and that it is a low risk entity close to Fixed Deposit, it is very likely Town Councils were sold that way. The group of professional Financial Advisors is likely to present it this way to the Town Council investment committees. So, losing $16 million of the people money, TC should review whether the above is true and will they pursue legal action against their advisors. It is most disappointing that nothing was said about this $16 million lost and TC just sweep the whole thing under the carpet. Instead they then put forward an excuse about past gain exceed current lost. This is people money and they should come clean and be accountable regardless whose money it is from. No MPs dig further on this, why? This is the flaw in our system where even the MPs dare not to ask tough questions while keep talking about transparency. Seems to me MPs are practicing transparency differently. If it is their own party matters, there is no transparency. But if it opposition then it will be pursue until someone goes to jail....; April 02, 2010 12:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Do not forget Town Council is not the only Public Department to invest in Minibond etc. SLA also invested in it. But I do not how much! Only % of the money was mentioned. What is the base? Does it include all the land sale money? Australia council is taking action against Lehman Brothers. What is our TC doing?; April 02, 2010 4:17 PM
trauma insurance said...: By the way, its Still unfair for many people.
Life insurance Australia; April 05, 2010 7:42 PM