Excerpt:

With the legal sparring between Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. /quotes/comstock/11i!lehmq LEHMQ -2.31% and SunCal taking a new, nasty turn in California, Lehman is turning to a New York bankruptcy judge to block the real-estate developer from attempting an "end-run" around the court's previous rulings.

Lehman Brothers is accusing SunCal of playing "Russian roulette" in its cross-country legal fight with Lehman and is asking Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to enforce the automatic stay in its Chapter 11 case. That request, if granted, would bar the California developer from challenging more than $100 million in claims Lehman has asserted against the SunCal projects in their California bankruptcy cases.