The case turned on an alleged claim of two companies in the Lips group against SNS Property Finance (Propertize's legal predecessor) for about EUR 4 million. SNS Property Finance had received that amount in partial payment of a claim with a total value of around EUR 140 million against various companies in the Lips group. It was agreed when the EUR 4 million was received that it could be applied towards a settlement in another matter. When that settlement failed to materialise, the Lips companies took the position that they were entitled to the EUR 4 million. Propertize argued that it was the rightful owner. The court ruled in favour of Propertize and denied all of Stichting Prato's claims.

The court held that the relevant Lips companies had never had a claim against Propertize (and therefore that claim could never have been assigned to Stichting Prato) because, in short, (i) the EUR 4 million was part of the payment of SNS Property Finance's claim against the Lips group, and (ii) the further agreements regarding the EUR 4 million could have given rise to a contractual claim but did not because the settlement never came into being, having been frustrated by Lips. The judgment can be found here (available in Dutch).

Propertize was represented by NautaDutilh (Barbara Rumora-Scheltema, Ralph Ubels and Cécile Rouméas) in what Lips described as the first in a series of actions to be brought against Propertize.