A Dallas judge has declined to dismiss a lawsuit by Neiman Marcus that alleges hedge fund Marble Ridge Capital hurt its business by issuing defamatory and false statements about Neiman being in default with its indentures.
In a one-page ruling, Dallas District Judge Tonya Parker denied Marble Ridge’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which the New York hedge fund brought pursuant to the Texas Citizens Participation Act. She heard both sides weigh in at-length during a March 21 hearing.
The ruling completely turns the tables on Marble Ridge, which originally entered the litigation as the plaintiff. The New York hedge fund sued Neiman in December, alleging the Dallas-based luxury retailer engaged in a $1 billion fraudulent transfer when it transferred the ownership of e-commerce unit MyTheresa to its parent company. Marble Ridge alleged the transaction severely hurt Neiman debtholders, which are currently in restructuring talks with the company.
Neiman responded four days later with its own countersuit and asked Judge Parker to dismiss Marble Ridge’s lawsuit. She did so after holding a hearing on March 7.
Tuesday’s ruling also marks the latest example of an anti-SLAPP defense to be rejected, a legal statute that has made an exponential amount of cameos in all kinds of Texas lawsuits – from everything between complex commercial litigation to employment disputes – since the law was passed in 2011.
“Neiman treasures its name and is very happy it has been given the chance to defend itself against statements that were simply untrue,” Mike Lynn, Neiman’s lead lawyer, told The Texas Lawbook in an email.
A spokesperson for Marble Ridge said in an email that the firm is disappointed by Judge Parker’s ruling and plans to “immediately appeal” it.
“Regardless of the judge’s ruling on this procedural issue,” the spokesperson said, “it does nothing to change Marble Ridge’s views about Neiman’s questionable financial condition; the inappropriateness of the company’s transfer of the MyTheresa asset to its out-of-money equity sponsors; the potential impairment of such transfer to all of Neiman’s other stakeholders; and the ‘devil’s bargain’ contained in the company’s restructuring proposal that rewards the company’s sponsors at the expense of the company’s other stakeholders while continuing to leave the company exposed to significant financial risk.”
Click here to read a previous report on the hearing that preceded Judge Parker’s latest ruling.
The rest of Neiman’s legal team includes Chisara Ezie-Boncoeur, Elizabeth Ryan and Chris Patton of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst in Dallas and Jeffrey Zeiger, Josh Greenblatt and Gavin Campbell of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago.
Marble Ridge’s legal team includes New York lawyers Sigmund Wissner-Gross and May Orenstein of Brown Rudnick and Dallas lawyer Josh Hedrick of Hedrick Kring.
The case is No. DC-18-18371 in the 116thJudicial District in Dallas County.