11 October 2023 – We feel honored to have won a case on the important and highly debated question of the loss of plaintiff status following the merger of two entities. In a judgment PE18.001805 rendered on September 29, 2023 the Court of Criminal Appeal of the Canton of Vaud had the courage to confirm such a status of our principal, after an initial success at first instance.

Beyond the reminder of the (well founded) doctrinal criticisms expressed in connection with the current Federal Court case-law (Andrew Garbarski – Mazzuchelli/Postizzi – Francesca Bonzanigo – Yannick Caballero Cuevas), we had further pleaded the incompatibility of this overly restrictive interpretation in view of new the forced merger of the two largest Swiss banking establishments upon intervention by the Federal Council this Spring and the potential chaos it may entail.

The three Judges of the Criminal Court followed us, “noting that since the last judgment rendered by the High Court in the matter (see TF 1B_537/2021 cited above), circumstances have evolved, with the recent intervention of the Federal Council aiming for the two largest Swiss banks to merge […]. Maintaining jurisprudence and, therefore, continuing to limit adhesive civil action would cause an influx of new civil cases.” (The decision is not yet final and binding.)

The Walder Wyss team was led by Rodolphe Gautier (Partner/Litigation) with Roxane Allot (Senior Associate/Litigation) and Gilian Nassisi (Junior Associate/Litigation).