Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s (PK: LEHMQ) lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) of allegedly cutting off billions of dollars and hastening what resulted in a record-setting bankruptcy will likely not go to trial before April 30th, 2012, under a time table approved on Wednesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in Manhattan.
The lawsuit, filed on May 26th, accuses JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) of using its knowledge about Lehman Brothers’ financial problems, to extract $8.6 billion of collateral in the four business days ahead of Lehman’s September 15, 2008 bankruptcy.
The suit says that officials including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon took collateral after learning from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson the federal government would not bail out Lehman Brothers.
During the Wednesday hearing, Lehman lawyer John Quinn said that each company expects to dispose of 50 witnesses from the opposing side and that depositions and fact finding may not be completed until June 30th, 2011.
“It’s a complicated, large case,” Quinn told the judge. “Is it really going to take until sometime in 2012 for this case to be trial-ready?” Peck asked. “We think that it will,” Quinn responded. The attorneys for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) agreed with the time table. “At this point,” the judge deadpanned, “my calendar for 2012 is mostly open,” resulting in courtroom laughter.
