A final appeal by Mayer Brown on behalf financial services client UBS to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has been dismissed, ending a long-running dispute with German water company Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig (KWL). UBS had made application for a further appeal against a Court of Appeal judgment handed down in October 2017.

Fraudulent representation
The case started when three banks – UBS, Depfa and LBBW –  sued KWL for $600m over the sale of derivatives in 2006 and 2007, which then defaulted during the 2008 financial crisis. In defence, KWL’s lawyers at Noerr argued those derivatives were not valid or binding owing to alleged fraudulent representation when the they were bought.

Disappointed
In a statement, a UBS spokesperson said, “We are disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision to refuse permission to appeal, despite the powerful dissenting judgment of Lady Justice Gloster in the Court of Appeal which largely favoured UBS’s position. While we do not agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, it brings an end to the matter.”