Right, never mind that "football" stuff, time to get back to this blog's core subject: legal matters. RBS and LFC just headed back to court in London an hour ago, and I can hear all y'all shouting for joy already.
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The Guardian covered the interested parties--the LFC board, H+G, NESV, Lim, etc.--in a wrap up/overview of where things stood at the start of the day, which thanks to diverse time zones is still looking to get fully started.
If the "home team" is arguing in London right now, it looks as though The Evil One's representatives are in Dallas arguing that by being in London yesterday rather than Texas all the other parties were already in contempt of court. Puts me in the mind of trying to argue rationally with a five year old, and it's giving me a bloody headache.
The Guardian's liveblog passes along that...
Lord Grabiner QC for the board: Describes H&G's actions as "grotesque parody, preposterous, unfair, unjust. They are incorrigible"
He points out that H&G signed up to this jurisdiction by getting into agreement with RBS and by agreeing to proceedings here. "It is preposterous" that they will simply go to another jurisdiction because they are not happy with the verdict.
Which is exactly why the thought that they're claiming contempt was shown yesterday is beyond absurd. Perhaps it's just an attempt to make the world less sensible than a Dali painting. Some kind of post-modern meta shomething-or-other.
Oh, right: you'll also want that liveblog. I'm guessing I'll be back with updates, because, well... yeah.
**4:30PM in London, 10:30AM in Dallas update** Quick note to pass along that th submissions in high court (aka London) are over, and the judge has retired to consider. Not entirely sure what he's considering upon. Perhaps about changing jurisdiction to Banglore. That was a joke.
Da G's livebizzy passes along that Hicks' reps didn't make any damages claims in court in England yesterday, making his claims for such in Dallas quite wrong. Which I'd agree with, unsurprisingly.
**waiting and on edge update** G-dawg's live blog managed to say, "Mr Justice Floyd: It is plain that the owner's case in Texas had been in preparation for some considerable time," about twenty minutes ago, but has since gone belly-up. Sky and BBC don't seem to be covering. Best update I've found since is another quote floating around the twitters:
Mr Justice Floyd: describes summary of high court case in owner's petition to Dallas court as "impoverished...”
So, looks clear enough to connect a few dots, except Hicks wasn't represented at today's case in London and is clearly going to try to pop up with something again. Any case, hopefully the news starts flowing soon.
**Bam! Hit it with a sporkdate**
Judge rules that anti-suit injunction wanted by RBS and other parties (board) against owner's action in Texas is granted. "This case has nothing to do with Texas."
Seemed pretty clear from the few lines leaking out in the judge's preamble, but that settles it: as far as UK courts are concerned, Texas courts have no jurisdiction over the case or any of the parties. This gives legal cover for the sale to go ahead, though given that we're talking about two very different court systems here there's still the issue of that Dallas court and ruling hanging in the air--even if in England it is officially considered to not have any weight. Now to see if the sale gets pushed through prior to legal proceedings in the US, or if LFC/NESV--whose lawyers are now saying in court that they're the new legal owners, which is a bold step--look to settle things in Texas before signing things and holding press conferences.
**7PM in Montpelier, 11AM in Phoenix update** Bit of an overview seems to be possible now: the judge has ruled that Hicks must revoke his injunction by 4PM GMT tomorrow or be in cotempt of court in England. That equates to 10AM in Texas, so he has the rest of the afternoon and first thing tomorrow morning while courts are open down there to decide on his next move.
Given that deadline, it appears that LFC/NESV does not feel comfortable moving ahead with finalizing the sale with that injunction hanging in the air, and at the very least feel they need to wait until Hicks & co. are in contempt of the high court to move ahead.
Unfortunately--and it's a pretty big unfortunately--Tariq Panja tweets that NESV's lawyers believe a sale can only be completed tomorrow if Hicks' injunction is removed prior to 3PM GMT. Which leaves an hour for Hicks to block the sale before the weekend without breaking the law in the UK. And tomorrow's the day RBS is supposed to put LFC into administration on if the debt isn't paid in full by the end of it. Which it won't be if Hicks waits until 3:30 to withdraw his restraining order.