Early Setback For Phil Falcone's New 'Sue Everything' Strategy
Phil Falcone cannot sue people for acting like Phil Falcone, so sayeth a federal bankruptcy judge. But Phil Falcone's company's company (for now) can!
Charlie Ergen's Dish Network Corp won dismissal on Tuesday of a lawsuit brought by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners in a fight over LightSquared Inc, a wireless communications business that is in bankruptcy.
Harbinger had sought $4 billion from Dish in the lawsuit, alleging that Dish had tried to strip Falcone of ownership of LightSquared….
Chapman also said her ruling did not bar LightSquared, rather than its controlling shareholder Harbinger, from pursuing similar claims, the lawyers said.
What else her ruling means is open to interpretation, as oral traditions are wont to be, according to lawyers on both sides.
Robert Giuffra, an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell who represented Dish and co-defendants EchoStar Corp, said Chapman also dismissed all other claims in the lawsuit.
David Friedman, an attorney with Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman who represented Harbinger, had a different take on Chapman's ruling. He said the judge did not dismiss one claim in the lawsuit, in which the hedge fund is attempting to block Ergen from collecting payments on $1 billion of LightSquared loans.
Dish did not immediately respond for a request for comment, and a transcript from the hearing was not immediately available.
Dish wins dismissal of Harbinger's LightSquared lawsuit [Reuters]
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