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Stephen Green's commercial real estate empire has been hard hit by the credit crisis—just yesterday, the company announced it planned to cut its fourth-quarter dividend—but the implosion of Lehman Brothers may end up putting an extra $21 million in the coffers of his company, SL Green. Last week, SL Green filed suit against Lehman's commercial banking arm for failing to provide his firm with a loan after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Doesn't compute? Allow us to explain.

Under an agreement that SL Green signed with a consortium of lenders in 2007, the company had the right to draw down on a credit facility at its discretion. As of September 15, 2008—the day Lehman filed for bankruptcy—Green had borrowed $21.6 million from Lehman's commercial bank. On September 16 and 17, SL Green notified the banks that it planned to take advantage of the credit facility and draw down millions more.

Given it had gone bust less than 48 hours earlier, Lehman wasn't in any position to satisfy SL Green's request, and Lehman's inability to come through has now provided the perfect grounds to file suit for breach of contract.

SL Green is now arguing they they're entitled to keep the $21 million they borrowed from Lehman, and shouldn't have to pay any interest that's accumulated since September either. The full lawsuit is below.