AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, national trial firm Reid Collins announced that the Texas state court in which they obtained a 2014 jury verdict against Credit Suisse has entered a fraud judgment on remand awarding more than $121 million to their client Claymore Holdings, an affiliate of NexPoint Advisors and Highland Capital Management Fund Advisors.
Claymore's suit against Credit Suisse stems from a fraudulent appraisal in connection with a 2007 loan that grossly overvalued a Las Vegas development project called Lake Las Vegas. Claymore accused Credit Suisse in its 2013 lawsuit of conspiring with a CBRE appraiser to inflate the property's value to induce Claymore to invest more than $250 million in the $540 million syndicated loan.
Texas Trial and Appellate Courts Affirmed Credit Suisse’s Fraud and Rejected Credit Suisse’s Arguments in Decades-Long Legal Battle
After over ten years of negotiation, litigation, and appeals, Dallas County Judge Dale Tillery rejected Credit Suisse’s argument that Claymore should receive none of the original $40 million jury verdict because Claymore had recovered a fraction of its losses in prior settlements with the appraisers.
The case has had a remarkable history. After winning the $40 million dollar jury verdict to great fanfare in the legal media (the Reid Collins trial team was profiled by the American Lawyer at the time), and after securing a judgment from the Texas state court, Reid Collins partners William T. Reid IV, Lisa S. Tsai and Nathaniel J. Palmer argued and won multiple appeals on multiple issues in the Texas Court of Appeals and before the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas Supreme Court did something very rare and telling in its April 2020 ruling – it affirmed the jury’s finding that Credit Suisse committed fraud and remanded the case to the trial court solely for it to reconsider its damages award.
“Having pursued this case relentlessly for over a decade, we are delighted to have achieved this victory for our clients, who have waited too long for justice,” said Bill Reid, lead counsel to Claymore. “We are proud to have prevailed over each of Credit Suisse’s efforts to avoid responsibility for its conduct. And we are even prouder of the fact that this judgment stands as one of the very few financial crisis cases against a Wall Street Bank that truly went the distance.”
“Our commitment to protecting investors’ interests has been the driving force in this case,” said Scott Ellington, President of Skyview Group, a Dallas-based professional services firm that manages the lawsuit. “The Reid Collins team has shared this commitment since day one, and we are grateful for the stellar legal counsel they provided throughout this long process.”
The case is captioned Claymore Holdings LLC v. Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch et al., case number DC-13-07858, in the 134th District Court in Dallas County, Texas.
About Reid Collins
Reid Collins & Tsai LLP is one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs’ trial firms, litigating complex business disputes and achieving billions of dollars in settlements and judgments for its clients. Its team is comprised of accomplished trial lawyers, including former federal prosecutors, who have extensive experience prosecuting financial fraud and corporate malfeasance cases, bankruptcy and insolvency related litigation, professional liability claims, and cross-border disputes. The firm represents fund managers, investor groups, trustees, receivers, liquidators, international banks, companies, governmental entities, and individuals in federal and state courts across the country.
For more information visit www.reidcollins.com
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