Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Defeats Morgan Stanley Capital Group in Breach of Contract Claims Against Client Trafigura

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Jun 17, 2010, 12:11 ET

NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Litigation shareholder Gregory J. Krock of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, delivered a victory to client Trafigura AG, the world's third-largest independent oil trader and the second largest independent trader in the non-ferrous concentrates market. Corrado Salvatore, litigation associate of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, assisted in the case.

On Tuesday, June 15, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, denied breach of contract claims made by Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. (MSCG), following a bench trial held June 7-9, 2010.

MSCG filed the action in February of 2009 in connection with its agreement in July of 2008 to purchase 25,000 barrels of M2 grade gasoline for $3,362,625 from Trafigura either by physical delivery or "book transfer," a financial settlement that is common in the gasoline trading industry in which delivery of gasoline is deemed, rather than physically made. The parties agreed that Trafigura's delivery obligation would be satisfied via a 5-party book transfer chain, which included Trafigura, MSCG, SemFuel, QuickTrip Corp. and Glencore Ltd.

Subsequent to SemFuel's bankruptcy proceedings, MSCG claimed that it canceled its book order prior to its effective date of July 21. However, since MSCG had not obtained the consent of all of the parties in the multi-party book transfer chain to cancel the transaction, the Court concluded that the chain was not canceled. There was, therefore, no breach by Trafigura and MSCG's claim failed.

As noted in Judge Cote's opinion, "At its core, this action represents an attempt by MSCG to shift the burden of the credit risk to which it was exposed when SemFuel's financial condition deteriorated in July 2008. Unsatisfied by the prospect of seeking recovery in SemFuel's bankruptcy proceedings, MSCG essentially asks that Trafigura be placed in its shoes as the party that paid, but did not get paid, in the Book Transfer Chain. Such a result would not only be unjust, but is completely unwarranted by the facts in this case."

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