Judge John Koeltl in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently denied a motion to dismiss a securities class action arising, in part, from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing.

For a vast number of professionals, email has become the preferred method for communicating and conducting business. However, many of those people who would choose to fire off a quick email over picking up a phone may not be aware that a casual email can transform into a binding, enforceable contract. Such was the case for the parties in Shinhan Bank v. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.), Case No. 17-2700, 2018 WL 3469004 (2d Cir.

There has been no shortage of victims in this financial crisis. Pensions and retirement savings have been severely reduced, jobs have been lost and once powerful financial institutions have failed. But, there is, perhaps, another victim that has largely gone unnoticed: the rule of law.

In his Evil Empire speech before the British House of Commons in June 1982, President Ronald Reagan refocused American political values on the rule of law.

Section 510(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides a mechanism designed to preserve the creditor/shareholder risk allocation paradigm by categorically subordinating most types of claims asserted against a debtor by equityholders in respect of their equity holdings. However, courts do not always agree on the scope of this provision in attempting to implement its underlying policy objectives. In In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 2017 WL 1718438 (2d Cir.

The Supreme Court in London today gave judgment in the Waterfall I appeal, a dispute as to the distribution of the estimated £8 billion surplus of assets in the main Lehman operating company in Europe, Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE).

LBIE entered administration on 15 September 2008 and has now paid its unsecured creditors dividends of 100p in the £. The Waterfall I Supreme Court appeal addressed some of the key issues as to who should receive the surplus, which we discuss below.

“So-called” Currency Conversion Claims

The High Court in London handed down judgment on Part C of the Lehman Waterfall II Application on 5 October 2016.

The judgment examines the extent of creditors’ entitlements to Default Rate interest on debts arising under ISDA Master Agreements governed by English law and New York law. As some £4.4 billion of LBIE’s admitted claims arise under ISDA Master Agreements and the debts were outstanding for more than five years, this judgment will materially influence the amount of money which must be applied in satisfaction of creditors’ entitlements to statutory interest.

The FSA has published the statement that it has provided to the court appointed examiner of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc, which is referred to in his wider report on the collapse of Lehman Brothers published on 11 March 2010.

View FSA statement to the US bankruptcy court examiner on the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, 12 March 2010

The FSA has published a statement entitled Wider implications referral: Lehman-backed structured products.  

In the statement the FSA together with the Financial Ombudsman Service have jointly concluded that the Lehman Brothers’ insolvency raises issues in the UK structured products market.  

It has been agreed that the FSA will now consider issues relating to Lehman-backed structured products under “the wider implications process” in order to allow it to explore all options to achieve the best outcome for consumers.  

On 23 March 2009, the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) published a report on the market impact of the Lehman Brothers default. The report began with a brief discussion of the causes of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. It then set out some of the regulatory and industry responses to the challenges in the securities field including:

On 15 September 2008, the FSA published a statement concerning Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.

In the statement the FSA states that Lehman Brothers Holding Inc, a US investment bank, announced that it intends to file a petition under chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.