the lawsuit does not give coinlab the legal right to take people's money. mtgox does not OWN that money. they can go after mtgox's money though
I unfortunately disagree.
an exchange is not much different from a bank. With the difference that it's backed by no legislation to protect us.
Our Gox balance (fiat, btc) is money that Gox owes us. We are, in fact, Gox creditors. Guess what happens if Gox goes bankrupt...
the difference is that banks LEND out your money (fractional reserve) they don't have people's money on hand.
it is legal and this is why they run out of money when people start defaulting on loans.
mtgox does not lend out coins or cash so everything they keep is 1:1
that money is not theirs
it's like NASDAQ being sued and them selling peoples' shares in stocks is a better example - can't happen.
when a bank gets suedthey are supposed to pay out of their money unless they are allowed to lend to themselves (which i'm not sure)