Bayerische Landesbank v. Barclays Capital, Inc.

902 F. Supp. 2d 471, 2012 WL 5383572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160489
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 5, 2012
DocketNo. 12 Civ. 3294(LLS)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 902 F. Supp. 2d 471 (Bayerische Landesbank v. Barclays Capital, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bayerische Landesbank v. Barclays Capital, Inc., 902 F. Supp. 2d 471, 2012 WL 5383572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160489 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LOUIS L. STANTON, District Judge.

The issues raised by defendants’ motion to 'dismiss the complaint are disposed of as follows, bearing in mind that on such a motion the court “must accept as true all of the factual allegations set out in plaintiffs complaint, draw inferences from those allegations in the light most favorable to plaintiff, and construe the complaint liberally,” Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc., 562 F.3d 123, 127 (2d Cir.2009), and should dismiss the complaint if it does not “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Allegations of fraud must be dismissed if plaintiff does not “state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 9(b).

A.

Defendants argue that plaintiff lacks standing to sue in United States courts because it is a domestic branch of a foreign bank'. Plaintiff is the New York branch of Bayerische Landesbank, which is headquartered in Germany. Under New York law, the domestic branch of a foreign bank is not a separate legal identity from its parent bank. See Greenbaum v. Svenska Handlesbanken, 26 F.Supp.2d 649, 652-53 (S.D.N.Y.1998). As such, it is the same legal entity as its parent bank and has standing to sue on claims its parent could assert. Cf. Bayerische Landesbank, New York Branch v. Aladdin Capital Management LLC, 692 F.3d 42, 51 (2d [473]*473Cir.2012) (“[Bayerische’s New York branch] is not separately incorporated, has no legal identity separate from Bayerische Landesbank, and therefore has no standing to assert a claim against Aladdin independent of Bayerische’s claim.”). Here, no party claims that Bayerische Landesbank does not have standing. Dismissal of the complaint for lack of standing is denied.

B.

At the Court’s request, the parties submitted memoranda of law to address the application, if any, of Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 2869, 177 L.Ed.2d 535 (2010), to this action. In its memorandum, plaintiff does not allege that the securities at issue were listed on an American stock exchange. The issue is whether “irrevocable liability was incurred or title was transferred within the United States,” see Absolute Activist Value Master Fund Ltd. v. Ficeto, 677 F.3d 60, 68 (2d Cir.2012).

The complaint states that “Barclays created, arranged, structured and underwrote Markov, acted as the initial purchaser of Markov’s notes, and marketed and sold Markov’s notes in New York, including to BayernLB.... ” Compl. ¶ 16. Sworn declarations and documents submitted by plaintiff make at least a plausible showing that its London Branch was closed to this business since 2004 and did not purchase the Markov notes (see below), which were purchased by the New York branch.

At least until further proof to the contrary is submitted, dismissal of plaintiffs claims under Morrison is denied.

C.

Dismissal of counts 1, 3, 4 and 5 is denied.

1.

Plaintiff alleges that Barclays Capital, Inc. (“BarCap”) and State Street Global Advisors (“SSGA”) represented to plaintiff that SSGA, a purportedly independent collateral manager, would select the collateral for the collateralized debt obligation (“CDO”) known as Markov CDO I (“Markov”). See Compl. ¶ 119. That qualifies as an “untrue statement of material fact,” see 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5(b) (2011), if Bar-Cap in fact “exerted its control over the selection of collateral assets,” see Compl. ¶ 89, and “used its control to structure a rigged bet that would pay off when the collateral assets failed,” id. ¶ 128.

The complaint alleges facts giving plausibility to those conclusions, see id. ¶ 77 (“Barclays designed Markov in order to limit its own exposure to the declining housing market and to seize the profit opportunity created by the bursting of. the housing bubble.”); id. ¶ 50 (“[I]n the event Markov’s collateral failed, Barclays stood to receive the $200 million being held in reserve as well as the proceeds of the sale of the $200 million of real assets held as ‘cash collateral.’ ”), and that SSGA chose to cede power to BarCap, since Bar-Cap likely would have used another collateral manager had SSGA refused, see id. ¶ 90 (“If collateral managers insisted upon maintaining independence and control over collateral selection, banks ‘froze out’ such stubborn collateral managers from further CDO collateral management assignments.”); id. ¶ 130 (“Barclays wielded its ‘consent’ power in a manner that vitiated State Street’s purported role as an independent Collateral Manager and the duties State Street had promised to perform under the Collateral Management Agreement. ... Barclays used its consent power to cause Markov to include assets Barclays believed would fail, not good assets, so that Barclays could maximize its profits on its ‘short’ interest in Markov’s collateral.”).

The Court has already held that allegations substantially similar to the allegations in the instant action adequately state [474]*474claims for fraud. See Space Coast Credit Union v. Barclays Capital, Inc. et al., No, 11 Civ. 2802(LLS), 2012 WL 946882, at *1-2 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 20, 2012). Defendants argue that the relevant law has changed since the Court’s decision in Space Coast. Specifically, defendants rely on a Second Circuit summary order in Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., 478 Fed.Appx. 679 (2d Cir.2012), which affirmed a district court’s decision to dismiss the plaintiffs claims of common law fraud. Landesbank is factually distinguishable from the instant action. In Landesbank, the plaintiff alleged that the defendants made untrue statements of material fact, misrepresenting to investors the credit quality of assets underlying a CDO, although they had access to confidential due diligence reports that contradicted their public statements. See Landesbank, 478 Fed.Appx. at 681-82. The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs fraud claims because the complaint did not specifically identify the reports containing this information, as required by Novak v. Kasaks, 216 F.3d 300

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902 F. Supp. 2d 471, 2012 WL 5383572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bayerische-landesbank-v-barclays-capital-inc-nysd-2012.