Messier found Arthur Abbey before the jury

Eight million pages of documents handling by battalions of lawyers who are working full time on the record for more than three months: it is a true judicial marathon comes to conclude at the District Court of southern Manhattan. But this is not necessarily the end of the legal battle engaged between the complainants, on the one hand, and Vivendi and its old leaders, on the other hand. By refusing to deal with the minority counsel, Vivendi took the bet out relatively unscathed long-term judicial proceedings laborious and expensive, based on the relatively random jurisprudence of the "collective action" in the us.

For lawyers of the complainants, which have extensively dissected financial communications of Vivendi from October 2000 to August 2002, the fall in the course of the group in the spring of 2002 was well linked to a liquidity crisis, concealed for several months to shareholders. On the basis of their judicial expert, Blaine Nye calculations, they rely on injury of 4 to 8 billion euros for the 454 days of the incriminated period all shareholders. In clear, there was a total mismatch between the actual situation of the group, on the cessation of payments and the external image reflected investors. "The vision of the Interior was very different from that given to outside", launched by counsel for the complainants, Arthur Abbey, relying on the "book of warnings" of the financial director Guillaume Hannezo. "Inflated to block at the end of 2001, the balloon to is deflated to the dismissal of Mr. Messier", found Arthur Abbey before the jury.

The Group denounced a "racket."

To the arguments of the complainants, Vivendi is raised against a form of "racketeering" of the lawyers in the "class actions", showing a relative solidarity with its former CEO, Jean-Marie Messier. "In the American mindset, there is no try"class actions"by a popular jury", said a relative of the group. Since the beginning of the procedure, Vivendi in dispute the object and the reality of the harm in believing that financial communication written, mainly driven by the then Financial Director Guillaume Hannezo has always faithfully reflected the reality. Without denying the existence of a brief "liquidity crisis" at the end of June 2002, Vivendi believes that the risk of cessation of payments was rapidly stopped with the arrival of Jean-René Fourtou at the head of the group, on 3 July 2002 and obtaining a bank loan of EUR 3 billion. Seven years after the departure of Jean-Marie Messier, he stressed the perverse effects of collective action "to American-led lawyers pay on the basis of a percentage (capped at 33) eventually awarded damages. In addition, the French group also criticized the decision of judge Holwell include French shareholders in the "class action", that might create "a serious precedent" for French companies, contrary to a recent American decision which excluded the French shareholders in a similar procedure for Alstom.

On their side, the lawyers for the complainants and Jean-Marie Messier to are surprised that Vivendi had not opted for the path of the transaction settlement, such as Time Warner and Disney did in comparable cases. But the French group has favoured a judicial strategy of long-term by announcing his intention to appeal. "Vivendi is betting on a low response rate of French shareholders to compensation," said a lawyer for the complainants. Counsel for Vivendi, given the obligation of the individual shareholders to identify and validate their complaint, the calculation and the amount of compensation may be determined at the expiration of a period of eighteen months. It is only at the end of this long period that Vivendi may challenge the decision which it has already clearly announced its intention to appeal.