Madoff Class Action Adv. Pro. No. 09-1265(BRL)
On June 5, 2009, Lax & Neville filed a class action adversarial proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to obtain a declaratory judgment, pursuant to the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. 2201, et seq., (i) that the Trustee's definition of "net equity" is incorrect as a matter of law, and (ii) that a customer's "net equity" under SIPA is the value of the securities reflected in the customer's Madoff account as of the SIPA filing date (even where the securities were never actually purchased) less any amounts the customer owes to Madoff. On June 16, 2010, the Second Circuit accepted the direct appeal of the net equity issue.