Abrams v. Occidental Petroleum Corp.

47 F.R.D. 301, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 83, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 23, 1969
DocketNos. 67 Civ. 2858, 3291, 4042 and 4977
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 47 F.R.D. 301 (Abrams v. Occidental Petroleum Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abrams v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., 47 F.R.D. 301, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 83, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948 (S.D.N.Y. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

HERLANDS, District Judge:

This motion for a stay is made by the following six parties: Tenneco Inc., Tenneco Corporation, Kern County Land Company (a Delaware corporation), Kern County Land Company (a dissolved California corporation), Dwight M. Cochran, and George G. Montgomery.

The prayed for order seeks to stay “all former stockholders of the former Kern County Land Company, a dissolved California corporation, from instituting or prosecuting any actions arising out of any of the acts or transactions which are the subject matter” of the four actions now pending in this Court, until final determination of these four actions.

The complaints in the four actions currently pending in this Court were outlined in Abrams v. Occidental Petroleum Corporation, 44 F.R.D. 543 (S.D.N.Y.1968) (hereinafter “the Abrams decision”). Because of the confusing corporate names and complicated inter-corporate relationships and transactions, reference to the matters described in the Abrams decision is indispensable for an understanding of the issues posed by the present motion.

However, certain facts in the Abrams decision relating to the identity of the six parties who are the movants at bar are now repeated in the interest of convenience :

1. Tenneco Inc. is the parent company of a subsidiary named Tenneco Corporation, a Delaware corporation, which is mentioned in the next item “2”.

[303]*3032. Tenneco Corporation owns all of the shares of KCL Corporation, a Delaware corporation. This corporation has had its name changed to Kern County Land Company, a Delaware corporation, which is mentioned in the next item “3”. This corporation is commonly called “New Kern” to distinguish it from another corporation of exactly the same name, Kern County Land Company, mentioned in item “4” below.

3. Kern County Land Company is the Delaware corporation sometimes referred to as “New Kern”.

4. Kern County Land Company, a dissolved California corporation, is sometimes referred to as “Old Kern”.

5. Dwight M. Cochran, one of the individual defendants in Action No. 4 (the Colonial Realty Corporation action), was a director and officer (president) of “Old Kern” and is accused in that action (First and Second Counts) of having committed certain improper acts as a member of “Kern’s management”.

6. George G. Montgomery is in the same situation as Dwight M. Cochran, according to the complaint in Action No. 4. Montgomery was chairman of the board of “Old Kern”.

It should also be noted that “Old Kern” was known as 600 California Corporation during the period between the sale of its business and assets (or merger or plan of reorganization) and its dissolution.

While the movants seek a stay against all actions which may hereafter be brought by the former stockholders of “Old Kern” (if any such actions arise out of “any of the acts or transactions which are the subject matter” of the four actions currently pending in this Court), they specifically direct their motion against the prosecution of the following two actions commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in February, 1969:

1. An action (Civil No. 50723), filed on February 5, 1969, by Occidental Petroleum Corporation against Kern County Land Company, a Delaware corporation; Tenneco Inc., a Delaware corporation ; 600 California Corporation, “a dissolved California corporation”; Dwight M. Cochran and George C. [sic] Montgomery. This action will sometimes be referred to below as “the Occidental action”.

2. An action (Civil No. 50739), filed on February 7, 1969, by Larue Uhl Gall, “on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated as former stockholders of 600 California Corporation, formerly Kern County Land Company” against Kern County Land Company, a Delaware corporation; Tenneco Inc., a Delaware corporation; 600 California Corporation, “a California corporation”; Cochran and Montgomery. This action will sometimes be referred to below as “the Gall action”. .

Occidental Petroleum is named as a defendant in each of the four actions currently pending in this Court. Mrs. Gall is not named as a defendant or otherwise in any of such actions.

The Occidental Action

The Northern District of California action by Occidental, in its individual capacity, seeks damages of “at least twenty million dollars”. Structured in three counts, the complaint makes the charges now to be summarized.

The First Count accuses the defendants of having violated Sections 10(b) and 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78n(a), and S.E.C. Rules 10b-5 and 14a-9, 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5 and 240.14a-9. The gist of the violations is that the defendants “engaged in a course of business which acted as a fraud” upon Occidental and the other shareholders of Old Kern in that defendant Tenneco Inc. was permitted to examine the confidential records of Old Kern and thereby learn the actual value of Old Kern’s assets in order to enable Tenneco Inc. to submit an offer for the acquisition of Old [304]*304Kern’s assets which would be “unfairly advantageous” to Tenneco Inc. and “disadvantageous” to the stockholders of Old Kern; that defendants Cochran and Montgomery received from Tenneco Inc. a written promise that they would retain their positions after the deal was closed; that, as a result, the negotiations between Old Kern and Tenneco Inc. were “totally inadequate to arrive at a fair and competitive offer for Old Kern’s assets” ; that thereafter a Plan of Reorganization was executed, on or about June 1, 1967, by Old Kern and Tenneco Inc.; that, in order to obtain the stockholders’ approval of the reorganization plan, the defendants — “in furtherance of their course of business to defraud plaintiff and the other shareholders of Old Kern” —in violation of Sections 10(b) and 14(a) and S.E.C. Rules 10b-5 and 14a-9, made false representations “to plaintiff and the other shareholders of Old Kern” that the value of Old Kern’s assets were approximately $100. per share of outstanding Old Kern stock whereas the actual value of said assets was at least $125. per share; that certain other misrepresentations were made; that the proxy statement sent “to plaintiff and the other shareholders” deliberately failed to disclose certain highly material facts which, if revealed, would have resulted in the stockholders’ refusal to approve the reorganization plan; that, as part of “their fraudulent course of business”, the defendants “set up the transaction as a sale of assets rather than as a merger”; that Cochran and Montgomery, together with the other Old Kern directors, received from Tenneco Inc. an indemnity agreement because they realized “that the above-averred course of business operated as a fraud upon plaintiff and the other shareholders of Old Kern; that because of “said fraudulent acts and conduct of defendants” the shareholders of Old Kern, on July 17, 1967, approved the reorganization plan; that, as a consequence, the assets of Old Kern were “transferred to New Kern for in excess of $25.

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Bluebook (online)
47 F.R.D. 301, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 83, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abrams-v-occidental-petroleum-corp-nysd-1969.