- Hit with 2.5bn-dollar judgement- Vows to appealHSBC has pledged to appeal a 2.5bn-dollar judgement that it has been hit with in a US securities class action lawsuit against Household International, the credit card and mortgage lender it bought in 2002.The case was originally filed 11 years ago and alleged that Household International, its Chief Executive, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Consumer Lending made false and misleading statements that inflated the company's share price. They also claimed that Household artificially boosted its share price by engaging in predatory lending. The share price fell to a seven-year low after reports about Household's lending practice started to emerge in 2001. Household was bought by HSBC for $15.5bn and is now known as HSBC Finance Corp.Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, which represented the plaintiffs, said the $2.46bn judgement was a record in a securities fraud class action trial.It said the judgment consisted of about $1.5m in damages and almost $1bn of prejudgment interest. "The fact that, after 11 years of hard-fought litigation, we obtained the largest judgment ever in a securities fraud trial demonstrates our firm's resolve to vindicate the rights of defrauded investors," said the plaintiffs' Lead Trial Attorney, Mike Dowd.However, HSBC vowed to appeal the ruling. A spokesperson for the bank said: "It has been noted in our filings for some time. This is the next legal step in an 11 year old case. We plan to appeal and believe we have a strong basis to do so."Shares in HSBC were down 0.15% at 677p at 10:06 on Friday morning.TB