Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman yesterday approved a settlement in the long-running legal fight between Lehman Brothers Inc. and Barclays PLC, punctuating one of the more intriguing sagas of Lehman’s collapse and its aftermath, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Chapman said yesterday that the deal, which calls for Lehman to pay Barclays $1.28 billion for so-called margin assets tied to Barclays’s purchase of Lehman’s brokerage business in 2008, was “fair and equitable.” The legal battle over the assets, which climaxed in a 34-day trial back in 2010, ends with both sides agreeing to drop all litigation against the other. More than $580 million cash will become available for Lehman creditors, because Lehman had set aside about $1.87 billion for the dispute. Both Barclays and James W. Giddens, the trustee unwinding Lehman’s brokerage, have said the payment is about $80 million less than what Giddens would have had to pay without a settlement.
