B & B Investment Club v. Kleinert's Inc.

62 F.R.D. 140, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 746, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12043
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 1, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. 73-642
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 62 F.R.D. 140 (B & B Investment Club v. Kleinert's Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B & B Investment Club v. Kleinert's Inc., 62 F.R.D. 140, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 746, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12043 (E.D. Pa. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CLIFFORD SCOTT GREEN, District Judge.

Presently before the Court is plaintiffs’ motion for a class action determination in this action brought under the securitie^Jaws.

The Court approves the class proposed by the plaintiffs and denies the request of certain defendants that the determination be made conditional upon the use of a verified proof of claim procedure in connection with the initial notice to the class.

The plaintiffs sue the defendants individually and jointly charging violations of sections 12(2) and 17(a) of the “Securities Act of 1933”, 15 U.S.C.A. § 771(2) and § 77q(a); sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the “Securities Exchange Act of 1934”, 15 U.S.C.A. § 78j(b) and § 78t (a); and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. 240.lob-5, adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission under authority of sections 10(b) and 23(a) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C.A. 78j(b) and 78w (a).

This Court has jurisdiction over this action under section 22(a) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 77v and section 27 of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S. C.A., § 78aa.

The gravamen of the complaint in this case arises from the public offering of the stock of defendant, Kleinert’s Inc., on or about May 17, 1972. On December 7, 1972, trading of Kleinert’s Inc. shares was suspended on the American Stock Exchange (ASE). Trading resumed December 21, 1972, after the company mailed a letter to shareholders explaining its losses from operations for the fiscal year that ended October 7, 1972. During the period of approximately May 17, 1972 to May 24, 1972, an undetermined number of persons purchased approximately 295,000 shares of the common stock of defendant, Kleinert’s Inc. at $30.00 per share. An undetermined number of persons purchased subsequent to the public offering at prices ranging from $24.00 to $35.00 per share. At the time the complaint was filed Kleinert’s Inc. stock was trading on the ASE at about $11 per share.

The plaintiffs are a Pennsylvania partnership and three of its individual members. All of the plaintiffs made purchases pursuant to the public offering and one of the individual plaintiffs made a purchase in the aftermarket. Defendants are Kleinert’s, Inc., the issuing company whose principal business is the [143]*143manufacture and sale of infants’ and childrens’ clothing and womens’ personal apparel and notions. The other defendants are all connected with Kleinert’s, Inc. including accounting firms, an underwriter, and individuals all of whom were either directors and/or officers of Kleinert’s, Inc. at the relevant time and two of whom are alleged to be controlling persons within section 20(a) of the Exchange Act.

The plaintiffs charge in two counts that defendants’ registration statement and prospectus for the May 17, 1972, public offering and other documents were false and misleading or failed to state material facts necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading in violation of sections 12(2) and 17(a) of the Securities Act and in violation of section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.1 Plaintiffs claim that both the alleged material misrepresentations and omissions and the alleged conspiracy of the defendants were for the purpose and had the effect of causing the plaintiffs and the class to purchase the common shares of Kleinert’s for an excessive consideration due to the artificially high price produced by the defendants’ activities.

The proposed class which we approve is defined as all those persons, excluding the defendants herein, who purchased shares of Kleinert’s, Inc. in the period May 17, 1972 to December 7, 1972, including those who purchased during the underwriting of approximately 295,000 shares of Kleinert’s common stock on or about May 17, 1972.

Before a class action may be maintained under F.R.Civ.P. 23, there must be a showing that:

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

In addition to the foregoing prerequisites of section (a), the class proponents must satisfy one of the three conditions of section (b). The plaintiffs here rely upon subsection (3), which requires that:

the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. The matters pertinent to the findings include: (A) the interest of members of the class in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actions; (B) the extent and nature of any litigation concerning the controversy already commenced by or against members of the class; (C) the desirability or undesirability of concentrating the litigation of the claim in the particular forum; (D) the difficulties likely to be encountered in the management of a class action.

Various issues have been submitted by different defendants. Defendant, Arthur Anderson, directly opposes certification of the class on the ground that certification is not yet ripe because defendants have not taken any discovery and so have not yet developed informa[144]*144tion on whether the criteria of F.R.Civ. P. 23 are met in this ease.

We find that the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable in that as of October 7, 1972, there were 889 record shareholders and since 295,000 shares of Kleinert’s, Inc. were purchased from May 17 to May 24, pursuant to the public offering, the class is undoubtedly larger than 889. We also find that there are questions of law or fact common to the class and that these questions predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, that the claims of the representative parties are typical of the claims of the class, that the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy.

Related to the argument as to the lack of discovery, three problems are advanced as to Rule 23 criteria. First, it is argued that antagonistic interests may be important among class members in that, depending upon when they bought and when and if they sold their stock, the interests of members will be different as to the amount of artificial inflation of the price at various times. It is argued that divergent interests of class members as to the materiality of different events on which liability is based may result in a lack of typicality and even fair representation as stated in Robinson v. Penn Central Company, 58 F.R.D. 436 (S.D.N.Y.1973). However, the Robinson case, unlike the present case, was not one involving a single or related documents so that here the objection is relevant primarily to proof of damages.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hypertouch, Inc. v. Superior Court
27 Cal. Rptr. 3d 839 (California Court of Appeal, 2005)
In Re CommonPoint Mortgage Co.
283 B.R. 469 (W.D. Michigan, 2002)
Glen Lewy 1990 Trust v. Investment Advisors, Inc.
650 N.W.2d 445 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2002)
Schwartz v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc.
185 F.R.D. 313 (D. Colorado, 1999)
Weikel v. Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
183 F.R.D. 377 (D. New Jersey, 1998)
Cotton v. Gaylord Container
691 So. 2d 760 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1997)
In re Mutual Savings Bank Securities Litigation
166 F.R.D. 377 (E.D. Michigan, 1996)
In Re Seagate Technology II Securities Litigation
843 F. Supp. 1341 (N.D. California, 1994)
Biben v. Card
789 F. Supp. 1001 (W.D. Missouri, 1992)
Township of Susquehanna v. H & M, Inc.
70 A.L.R. Fed. 480 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1983)
Kyriazi v. Western Electric Co.
647 F.2d 388 (Third Circuit, 1981)
Penson v. Terminal Transport Co.
634 F.2d 989 (Fifth Circuit, 1981)
Koenig v. Smith
88 F.R.D. 604 (E.D. New York, 1980)
Brame v. Ray Bills Finance Corp.
85 F.R.D. 568 (N.D. New York, 1979)
Weisberg v. APL Corp.
76 F.R.D. 233 (E.D. New York, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 F.R.D. 140, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 746, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12043, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-b-investment-club-v-kleinerts-inc-paed-1974.