Ethics

The following illustrates how the misdirected fax or email can aid in the search for truth -- an issue that is consistently ignored or minimized in discussions supporting a requirement that lawyers ignore such messages, send them back, etc.

Misdirected E-Mail Set the Stage for Clear Channel Suits

Posted Mar 27, 2008, 10:00 am CDT

By Debra Cassens Weiss

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.