Another Stupid Lawsuit

[Jim O]

Ross pair sues bank over link to Nazis


A Ross couple has sued Deutsche Bank National Trust, claiming the institution should have disclosed its ties to Nazi atrocities and its financial relationship with Adolf Hitler before they agreed to use its financial management services.

Lawrence and Regina Lawrence said in the civil lawsuit they entrusted $19 million to the bank and instructed that their assets be used by a Jewish charity.

The couple did not know at the time in 1999 of the Nazi connection that Deutsche Bank has acknowledged. The bank helped finance the Nazi regime.

Regina Lawrence is of Jewish descent and lost several relatives in the Holocaust prior to and during World War II.

The Nazi regime killed more than 6 million Jews.

Under terms of the Lawrence trust, the bank became the financial manager of trust assets. The couple paid more than $300,000 in fees to Deutsche Bank for its services.

The Lawrences learned of the relationship of the Nazi regime and Deutsche Bank when they became dissatisfied with the financial performance of their trust assets and asked their lawyer to look into the situation.

The attorney, Ted Hannig of Redwood City, began to research the company.

He discovered that while the Lawrences had begun their business with Bankers Trust of California in a transaction that was signed in Marin, they did not know that Bankers Trust was a fictitious business name for Deutsche Bank, or that the bank had Nazi links.

"If you are going to invest your money for Jewish charitable work with a company that had responsibility for the Holocaust, they should disclose it," Hannig said. "Then they decide whether they want to pay the fee."

Hannig said he believes that when others learn of the Deutsche Bank history, they will choose to sever any relationship with the institution.

"This could be important for Deutsche Bank because of all the money they have taken from Jewish families to manage," Hannig said. "It could mean billions of dollars."

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank in New York City said the company does not comment on pending litigation, but it provided a statement acknowledging the bank's connections to the Nazis.

It states that Deutsche Bank has tried to make restitution by establishing a foundation with other German companies to meet what it calls its "moral responsibilities."

"The goal of this initiative is to meet the moral responsibilities of private German companies arising from the use of forced labor, Aryanisation, and other grave injustices dating from the period of Nazi dictatorship," the statement reads.

"Deutsche Bank has participated for nearly one and a half years in twelve official plenary sessions, as well as many more working group meetings with the German government and the governments of the United States, Israel and countries in Eastern Europe as well as major Jewish and other organizations to provide cooperative, fair, and above all, prompt assistance to victims of Nazi persecution."

In their lawsuit, the Lawrences call Deutsche Bank's "concealment" of its past role in the Holocaust "willful, wanton and malicious."

They claim the failure to disclose facts about its history and its mismanagement of their assets cost more than $4.2 million in lost trust assets and $376,000 in management fees.

The lawsuit asks that Deutsche Bank restore the lost funds and other unspecified damages.

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27.

Source: Marin Independent Journal

[Tom Houlihan]

How many other companies would they find that had some connection with Nazi Germany, if they researched the manufacturer's of every product in their house, and every service they use in life!

That's just stupid.

[Klaus]

Oh boy! What a way to start a morning. Getting up, going to work, reading an article like that and being pissed for the rest of the day. I would like to tell those *bleep*-heads to to insert their own genitalia in their own rectum. This is just ridiculous. It would be even more ridiculous and pathetic for the bank if they had to pay.

[Tom Houlihan]

Originally Posted by Klaus

I would like to tell those *bleep*-heads to to insert their own genitalia in their own rectum.

There's not enough room. They're already suffering from "rectal-cranial inversion."

[Klaus]

Originally Posted by Tom Houlihan

There's not enough room. They're already suffering from "rectal-cranial inversion."

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Klaus

Oh boy! What a way to start a morning. Getting up, going to work, reading an article like that and being pissed for the rest of the day. I would like to tell those *bleep*-heads to to insert their own genitalia in their own rectum. This is just ridiculous. It would be even more ridiculous and pathetic for the bank if they had to pay.

Sorry Klaus...

[Klaus]

Ah, you are welcome to do this to me every morning. Get's me started for the day.