A syndicate of banks led by Westpac will make one more effort to cling on to their disputed position as secured creditors of Bell Resources -  a company that went broke in 1990 and whose assets the receivers sold on behalf of the banks in 1992.In a media release circulated by a public relations firm yesterday, the banks said they had filed an application for leave to appeal to the High Court.The government of Western Australia funded a case brought by the liquidator in the mid-1990s.In 2008, the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled that the banks ranked as unsecured creditors. In a follow-up ruling, in 2009, the court ordered the banks to pay A$1.58 billion to the liquidator of Bell Resources.Last month, the Court of Appeal in WA rejected an appeal by the banks in relation to the 2008 and 2008 rulings. The Court of Appeal also ruled that the trial judge erred in his method of calculating damages now payable by the banks to the liquidator, and which the liquidator estimates may now be worth in excess of $2 billion (some of which would flow back to the banks).In the media release, in the name of Freehills' consultant, John Vaughan, the banks framed the grounds for their application for leave around the following:-- the extent to which courts can intervene in directors' decisions… and [the] obligations the directors have to treat all creditors equally, and the liabilities of banks and other third parties who support the directors;-- the approach the courts should take, and the rate of interest that should apply to any monetary award arising from directors' decisions.Vaughan and the banks wrote that "the effects of the Bell judgments are that both directors and financiers are likely to be much more risk averse and rather than attempt to put in place rescue plans to support businesses, they will find moving earlier to insolvency the safer option."