Misdirected E-Mail Set the Stage for Clear Channel Suits
A misdirected e-mail from Credit Suisse helped set the stage for two lawsuits filed this week by two private equity firms seeking to purchase Clear Channel Communications, the New York Times reports.
The suits accuse Credit Suisse and five other banks of breaching a contract to finance the $19.5 billion sale and interfering with the purchase agreement. The court filings come less than a year after the buyers, Bain Capital and THL Partners, received an unusual e-mail from Credit Suisse. The July e-mail contained confidential documents discussing how the banks planned to renege on terms of the lending agreement, the Times story says.
The suits were filed in state courts in Manhattan and Bexar County, Texas. Late yesterday, the judge in the Texas suit, which seeks $26 billion in damages, issued a temporary restraining order requiring the banks to carry out the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Widener University law professor Lawrence Hamermesh told the Wall Street Journal it’s unusual for a judge to issue a TRO without a hearing, and the banks could ask him to set aside the order until a hearing can be held.
Representing the buyers in the Texas suit is legendary trial lawyer Joe Jamail, the New York Times’ DealBook blog reports.
