Luxury products group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has been awarded EUR30 million by a French court after it was deemed to have experienced “considerable financial and reputational harm” at the hands of United States bank Morgan Stanley.

    The Paris-based company, which operates the Donna Karan, Christian Lacroix and Givenchy designer brands, filed a EUR100m lawsuit against the bank in October 2002, claiming it had demonstrated “persistent and serious breaches” in its provision of independent and objective financial research and analysis of the luxury goods sector.

    The company also claimed Morgan Stanley had “systematically denigrated” it through the publication of false and biased information in the financial press, supposedly due to its close investment banking relationship with rival Gucci Group NV.

    According to the ruling by the Paris Commercial Court on Monday, the bank demonstrated “gross misconduct” against LVMH by failing to ensure the independence of its research and, instead, linking the company’s activities to its own investment banking activities.

    However, while LVMH has expressed its satisfaction with the ruling, Morgan Stanley president Stephan Newhouse said the firm would appeal the decision.

   “Morgan Stanley believes this judgement is completely wrong and sets a dangerous precedent,” he said.

   “Research cannot constitute ‘fautes lourdes’ because it contains comments that are not positive, unless the giving of an opinion becomes in itself an offence.

   “The judgement has very serious implications in France for freedom of speech and analyst independence and threatens the very existence of analysts.”

    Morgan Stanley acted as investment banking advisor to Gucci from 1999 to 2002.