Overview
(February 16, 2021, New York) — The Supreme Court of the State of New York's Appellate Division today handed Russian businessman Leonid Lebedev a victory in the latest round of litigation against two billionaires over proceeds from the sale of oil and gas assets in Russia. The defendants are Leonard Blavatnik, who owns Warner Music, among other entities, and Viktor Vekselberg, who is on the US sanctions list of Russian oligarchs. Steptoe serves as lead counsel for Lebedev in this litigation.
In a unanimous opinion, the Appellate Division sent the case back down to the state Supreme Court for trial and affirmed that court's decision that the defendants are not allowed to look to Lebedev to indemnify their costs in connection with the litigation.
The dispute stems from TNK-BP's 2013 sale to Rosneft, a Russian state-owned oil company. In his lawsuit, Lebedev seeks to enforce his contractual rights to receive over $2 billion of the proceeds from that sale. Lebedev alleges that Blavatnik and Vekselberg breached the parties' agreement when they failed to recognize his ownership stake in the business and pay him his share of the sale proceeds.
For more than six years, Lebedev has litigated his claims through the New York court system. In today's decision, addressing cross-appeals of the trial court's summary judgment rulings, the Appellate Division reinstated Lebedev's breach of contract claim and affirmed the dismissal of the defendants' counter-claim for indemnification—setting the stage for a long-awaited trial on the merits.
Steptoe partner Mike Miller, who serves as lead counsel on this matter and who argued the appeal, commented: "We are very pleased with the decision handed down today. It has been a long road to get to this point and we are looking forward to the next step – a trial where Leonid Lebedev can finally vindicate his contractual rights and collect his share of the billions of dollars that were paid for the oil and gas business that he and the defendants owned."
Along with Miller, the Steptoe team includes partners Leah Quadrino, Evan Glassman, and Charles Michael, and of counsel Jeremy Glen.
Also representing Lebedev as appellant-respondent are Arnold & Porter's James Catterson and Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky's Tom Dewey.
The appellate division's decision can be read here.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
