Although devaluation of the currency and inflation would generate losses for creditors, those losses are typically a fraction of losses that would arise from a default by government or - as Greece is trying to do - from a request to creditors to voluntarily forgo an element of what they're owed.

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Instead of pursuing the cases in court the FDIC has been settling with defendants for a fraction of the losses incurred, the Times finds.

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Securities class-action lawyers are frequently criticized for settling their cases for a small fraction of the losses, although Lerach and other firms have won multibillion-dollar settlements recently in cases such as WorldCom.

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Mr Clarkson said the figure of 200 dead puffins was probably just a fraction of the actual real losses and the RSPB were "expecting a real hit on the breeding population".

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Even when an investigation is commissioned, typically clients, reeling from losses, are only willing to pay a fraction of the cost of a thorough review.

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But after the LightSquared disaster and other investment losses, Harbinger now manages only a tiny fraction of what it used to oversee and much of it belongs to Falcone himself as opposed to outside investors.

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