The state attorney general wants to know if a civil trial in a $3 billion civil lawsuit against Credit Suisse set to begin next month is still on schedule after the judge, Timothy Lydon, resigned to become executive director of the State Senate Majority staff.
Superior Court Judge Kay Wolcott-Henderson was named last week to replace Lydon as the General Equity Presiding Judge on August 26, but it’s not clear if she will be prepared to start the trial on September 12.
The New Jersey Bureau of Securities filed a lawsuit against Credit Suisse in 2013 alleging that they engaged in fraudulent and deceptive practices during the sale of mortgage-backed securities.
In a letter to both judges, the state requested an immediate management conference to get “clarity on the trial schedule.”
According to today’s court filing, the attorney general’s office and Credit Suisse agreed to written direct testimony of expert witnesses could be submitted fourteen days in advance of their testimony, which could be as early as August 29.
“Any disruption of the trial date will necessarily inform the timing of the submission of these affidavits,” deputy attorney general Brian F. McDonough and their outside counsel, former attorney general Christopher Porrino, wrote in a letter to the judges. “Once the Bureau begins its submissions, any delay of the trial date will adversely affect the Bureau, because it will afford Credit Suisse a longer period to prepare for cross-examination of the expert(s) than the stipulation contemplates.”
The state also cited logistical concerns in their request that Wolcott-Henderson make a quick determination as to the start of the trial.
“With less than one month until the trial starts, the parties need to finalize scheduling logistics, including advising witnesses – many of whom live out of State – when they need to travel to New Jersey, arranging hotel accommodations, and advising vendors of when their services and equipment will be needed,” McDonough and Porrino wrote.