On August 2 the court ruled that investors with non-ringfenced assets could make claims against the bank's main cash pool, overturning a decision made by Justice Briggs in December that split claimants into those whose assets had been segregated by LBIE and those whose hadn't. Justice Briggs deemed that statutory trust arrangements were not enforceable on unsegregated contracts, so the clients would remain divided into two camps.
But now all investors can now attempt a claim against the ringfenced funds, diluting the likely return and requiring complex analysis of each individual claimant's contract terms. The judgment could also affect existing administration plans, as the number of claimants and pool of money available to them is now unclear. The process is likely to be lengthy and complex, as administrators will have to work out how to find client money held in the Lehman estate, and then distribute it to investors with...