Financial Services Litigation & Investigations Group
Financial Services Litigation & Investigations Group
In the face of turmoil and uncertainty, the world's major financial institutions continue to choose our team to help them manage their business, litigation and reputational risks and thrive in the new economic and regulatory climate. To our clients we are much more than litigators - we are business partners who have a stake in their success.
Deutsche Bank Wins Ninth Circuit Affirmance of Dismissal in ICE LIBOR Antitrust Lawsuit
- Client News
- December 9, 2024
Paul, Weiss secured a significant appellate victory for Deutsche Bank, when the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s 2023 dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that several major banks conspired to fix the London Interbank Interest Rate (LIBOR) and that the setting of USD ICE LIBOR is per se unlawful under the antitrust laws.
The plaintiffs, consumers of loans and credit cards with variable interest rates, claim that they paid artificially inflated interest rates as a result of the alleged LIBOR-setting conspiracy. The complaint notes that the allegedly price-fixed rate was used by an estimated $350 trillion of outstanding contracts in a range of maturities, including mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans, lines of credit and various other financial instruments.
Paul, Weiss defeated the plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief in 2021 and won the dismissal of the complaint without prejudice in 2022. The plaintiffs filed a substantially similar amended complaint, which the court dismissed with prejudice in October 2023.
We previously won the dismissal of a separate consolidated class action alleging that Deutsche Bank and other banks conspired to suppress the submissions they made with respect to ICE LIBOR, successfully defending the win at the Second Circuit in 2022.
In affirming the 2023 dismissal, the Ninth Circuit panel found that the district court did not err in dismissing the claims against Deutsche Bank and the other foreign defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction, agreeing that there is no evidence that their alleged conduct was targeted at the United States, and that service in the United States does not establish personal jurisdiction. The panel also agreed with the lower court that the remaining claims lack antitrust standing because the plaintiffs’ purported injury was not direct and none of the plaintiffs adequately alleged any transactions with any of the defendants, among other findings.
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Jessica Carey, Meredith Dearborn and Brad Karp and counsel Hallie Goldblatt.