Landowner Sues Bear, JP Morgan Over HQ Sale

NEW YORK CITY-The company that owns the land on which Bear Stearns & Co. Inc.’s local headquarters stands, sued the investment bank as well as JPMorgan Chase & Co., which is in the process of buying Bear Stearns. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan by 383 Madison LLC, a locally based corporation, accuses them of not upholding the landlord’s right to make the first offer for the building, reports say.

Published reports say that the company is seeking a court order forcing Bear Stearns to sell the building to it for no more than $1.1 billion and also demanding damages. JPMorgan, which is in the process of acquiring Bear Stearns, as GlobeSt.com reported, plans to move part of its operations into the building, CEO Jamie Dimon said earlier this month. Bear Stearns did not return queries for comment by deadline. A JPMorgan spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that “we believe the suit has no merit.”

According to those reports, the lawsuit alleges that “at no time did Bear Stearns even attempt to honor its contractual duties to plaintiff, which would have required providing plaintiff with notice of the potential agreement with JPMorgan and engaging in negotiations with plaintiff relating to the purchase of the building.”