The co-founder of Storm Financial (Storm) has labelled a Federal Court ruling against Macquarie Bank as a monumental case that has ramifications for all clients of the failed advisory firm.
On 12 February, Justice Rare of the Federal Court of Australia, New South Wales District Registry general division, found in favour of Ross Ian Goodridge regarding contractual implications of Macquarie Bank's sale of its margin loan book to Leverage Equities.
"The case is monumental and it has ramifications, we believe, for every single Storm client," Storm co-founder Emmanuel Cassimatis said.
"The evidence we have is a lot stronger than what that case had, so clearly the courts are not swallowing how the banks describe themselves as the pillars of the community, and we've always believed there would be a black letter law defence, which is what the court has apparently ruled."
Cassimatis said if the court decision was any indication, in his view, CBA will be facing "billions of dollars" in costs relating to Storm.
However, despite the decision, the Macquarie ruling did not necessarily offer Storm's legal case a boost in confidence, he said.
"We had a very high degree of confidence, although we're fortified with the fact that there is already a precedent," Cassimatis said.
"It was always our view that the only place to get a just outcome was in the courts."
It is understood the judgement justifies the approach Storm founders have taken in identifying the breach of contract, the breach of the duty of care, and their assessment of the losses that are recoverable.
Neither Macquarie Bank nor Leverage Equities were available for comment on whether they would appeal the judgement.
In November last year, Storm founders reignited their legal case against CBA, seeking more than $17 million in damages for alleged breaches of contract.
