DLA Piper has advised Staalbankiers in a dispute over Lehman notes. On 25 June 2013 the Court of Appeals in The Hague dismissed claims from former accountholders for Lehman notes which had apparently lost all value.

In the judgment the court remains, on principle, with its decision of earlier this year that even a professional player such as Staalbankiers could not have known by the end of 2007 that Lehman Brothers, a supervised, A-rated bank, would go into liquidation. Also, with reference to a decision from the KiFiD institute for financial dispute resolution, the Court refuses to honour the argument that, generally, banks are allowed to invest not more than 30% of an asset porfolio in notes of a single issuing party, if that party is not an official investment institute as defined in the regulations.

With this decision the Court of Appeals has provided parties in current and future disputes over notes guaranteed by, inter alia, Lehman Brothers with two important leads as to how the question of liability is to be approached.

Paul Hopman and Dennis Apperloo are advising Staalbankiers in this matter.