The New York judge overseeing the Greenlight verses Apple case has suggested that Greenlight’s David Einhorn will be successful in his lawsuit against Apple.
Judge Richard Sullivan said: “I do think the likelihood of success is in favor of Greenlight,” reports the New York Post.
Sullivan has confirmed he will make his ruling prior to Apple’s shareholder meeting on 27 February.
The judge still needs to decide whether Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital hedge fund would be irreparably harmed if the vote at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting were to take place, however.
Greenlight lawyer Mitchell Hurley said that Greenlight “will be harmed immediately and irreparably because it will be forced to vote against its own interests”.
Apple’s lawyer George Riley said he doesn’t think that Greenlight will be harmed, according to Bloomberg’s report.
That report quotes Judge Sullivan telling Greenlight’s lawyer: “It seems to be Mr. Riley has suggested a scenario where the court doesn’t have to do a darn thing and you haven’t rebutted it.”
Einhorn claimed that Apple’s attempt to get shareholders to vote on a measure that he believes could make it impossible for the company to return more money to investors, would cause “an actual and imminent injury” to investors.
He claims Apple is violating US Securities and Exchange Commission laws by combining a measure to limit preferred shares with two other proposals for vote at its annual shareholders’ meeting on 27 February.
As we reported yesterday, Einhorn picked up $146 million in Apple call options during the fourth quarter of 2012. This means that he has a $746 million position in Apple – and Apple is more than 11% of his fund’s total value.
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Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.