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The court admitted a case brought by Juergen Hillebrand, a German pensioner who bought a Lehman investment note called an “Alpha Express Zertifikat,” a product whose performance was tied to Lehman’s credit risk, his lawyer Jens-Peter Gieschen at law firm KWAG in Bremen, Germany, said on Thursday.
It’s the first time a German court has admitted a case brought by retail investors against rating agencies, potentially opening the door to further claims.
S&P, part of McGraw-Hill Cos Inc, failed in its duty to make a credible ratings assessment because the notes were given a good score only days before the Lehman insolvency in September 2008, Gieschen said.
A spokeswoman for S&P in Germany said: “We believe that these claims are without merit.”
One of the reasons Hillebrand bought
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