An 18-lawyer team from Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, along with co-counsel from Washington, DC's Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C., represented entities sponsored by Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. in the recently concluded litigation concerning the funding of the leveraged buyout of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. Clear Channel, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is the nation's largest operator of radio stations and outdoor advertising displays.

The resolution of the case after the first day of trial capped one of the most intense and closely watched business litigations in recent years. The lawsuit, entitled BT Triple Crown Merger Co. v. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., was commenced on March 26, 2008 in the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Another lawsuit was simultaneously commenced by Clear Channel and CC Media Holdings, Inc. in state court in Texas. In the New York action, discovery proceedings that typically take years -- involving the production of approximately two million pages of documents and the depositions of 27 witnesses -- were completed in a month, motions to dismiss and for summary judgment were briefed and decided, and the case went to trial on May 13, 2008 -- just 48 days after filing of the complaint.

The case resulted in the issuance by Justice Helen E. Freedman of what is now the leading New York decision on the ability of courts to require banks to fund commitments to lend money to finance large corporate transactions. In an opinion dated May 7, 2008, Justice Freedman denied the defendants' request that she declare that the remedy of specific performance is not available in such circumstances, and held that banks could be required to fund if they breached their obligation to finance the acquisition of a unique business for which suitable alternative funding was not available and where damages from the breach would be difficult to prove with reasonable certainty.

The FKSA litigation team was led by partners Bruce S. Kaplan, Robert J. Lack, and Emily A. Stubbs, with assistance from partners Robert D. Kaplan, Katherine L. Pringle, Daniel B. Rapport, and Kent K. Anker and associates Chad M. Leicht, Amy Luria, John N. Orsini, Jonathan Gottfried, Barbara J. Graves-Poller, Steven E. Frankel, Niketh Velamoor, David N. Slarskey, Kevin S. Haeberle, Sheela V. Pai, and Jennifer P. Krakowsky. The Kellogg Huber team was led by partner Mark C. Hansen.