Cleary Gottlieb, on behalf of its clients Citigroup Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (together “Citigroup”), won a judgment from the Southern District of New York on November 2, 2009, dismissing all claims brought against Citigroup.
The plaintiff was a structured finance attorney who claimed to have developed an airport financing structure and who had briefly represented Citigroup, one of the underwriters. After Citigroup and other underwriters declined to utilize plaintiff’s structure, plaintiff alleged that Citigroup violated the federal antitrust laws and tortiously interfered with, and caused the termination of, her employment with two different law firms. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska agreed with Cleary Gottlieb that the plaintiff failed to set out facts supporting the conclusion that her antitrust claims were plausible, and so dismissed them under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Exercising supplemental jurisdiction the court also dismissed the state law claims for failure to state a claim.
