On Friday 1 April the Icelandic district court delivered a favourable judgment for UK Authorities and other UK wholesale depositors affected by the collapse of the Icelandic banks Glitnir and Landsbanki.
Bevan Brittan were appointed to act on behalf of the Authorities as part of a collective action co-ordinated and led by the LGA.
At the time of the collapse in October 2008, 123 Local Authorities with approximately £1.1bn on deposit with the Icelandic banks were faced with the potential loss of significant funds.
The successful judgment means that the claims of the 123 Authorities (along with leading Universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Durham) have been recognised as deposits with priority status over other creditors' claims and will be at the front of the queue when it comes to getting their money back. This could make a difference of in excess of £400m to their global recoveries and mean that local authorities get virtually all their Icelandic deposits back.
Speaking shortly after the judgment, lead Bevan Brittan partner Virginia Cooper commented “This result has vindicated the local authorities and the hard work which has been done by everybody to win this fantastic result.”.
For more information, please contact press@bevanbrittan.com.