Birnbaum v. Birrell

9 F.R.D. 72, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3360
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 13, 1948
DocketCiv. No. 43-725
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 9 F.R.D. 72 (Birnbaum v. Birrell) 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
Birnbaum v. Birrell, 9 F.R.D. 72, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3360 (S.D.N.Y. 1948).

Opinion

COXE, District Judge.

These are motions by various defendants to require plaintiffs to file a further amended complaint stating in separate counts the facts with respect to each alleged separate transaction or occurrence; to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; to file a more definite statement with respect to numerous allegations in the amended complaint; to strike out certain allegations as redundant, immaterial, etc., and to dismiss the action as to certain defendants for improper venue.

The action is a stockholders’ derivative action brought by stockholders of Universal Laboratories, Inc. (hereafter referred to as “Universal”) to recover for alleged wrongs sustained by it and also by Borden Avenue Utilities Corporation (hereafter referred to as “Borden”), its wholly-owned subsidiary. The jurisdiction is based solely on diversity of citizenship.

The gist of the amended complaint is that the defendants Birrell, Bonner, Hopps, Schinasi and Yeager dominated and controlled the business and affairs of the defendants The Greater New York Industries, Inc., Louisville Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Securities Corporation General, Rhode Island Insurance Company and International Utilities Corporation (hereafter respectively referred to as “Greater New York”, “Louisville”, “S. C. G.”, “R. I. Ins.” and “International”), — all these defendants being collectively referred to as the “Birrell group”; that in the latter part of 1945 the Birrell group entered into a conspiracy with the then directors and officers of Universal and Borden (the defendants Glossinger, Red-don, Kemp, Wittner, Jaffin, Heiberg and [74]*74Plohn) and other directors and officers not named as defendants, to “mulct” Universal and Borden, and to waste and misappropriate their assets for the benefit, directly or indirectly, of the Birrell group and the directors and officers of Universal and Borden; and that the acts and transactions thereafter set forth in the amended complaint were all committed in pursuance and furtherance of such conspiracy. It is also alleged that the individuals in the Birrell group became directors of Universal in February 1947, constituting a majority of the Board, and continued to act as such until August 1947, when they resigned and the control of Universal and Borden was turned over to the other individual defendants, M. H. Gotthilf and his designees, viz., Turner, Sloane, Levinson and Toole.

Judgment is demanded for an accounting to Universal and Borden, the cancellation and setting aside of various transactions, and other relief.

The motions' to require plaintiffs to file a further amended complaint stating in separate counts the facts- with respect to each alleged separate transaction or occurrence are made by all defendants who have been served or who have appeared, and it is variously asserted by them that five, eleven or fourteen separate and distinct transactions are alleged, some resulting in wrongs to Universal and some to Borden, and that without such separate statement it is impossible to tell what acts of the defendants with reference to each are complained of. But Rule 10(b) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., does not require that each of the transactions or occurrences alleged to have been committed in pursuance of the alleged conspiracy shall be stated in a separate count. See Original Ballet Russe v. Ballet Theatre, 2 Cir., 133 F.2d 187, 189, where it was pointed out that the word “claim” in the Rules “is used to denote the aggregate of operative facts which give rise to a right enforceable in the courts”, and that “a •separation of claims into separate counts is mandatory only when necessary to facilitate clear presentation.” Here, only two claims are alleged in one count — one in favor of Universal and the other in favor of Borden; the separate transactions alleged are “the aggregate of operative facts” which constitute the claims asserted. Plaintiffs are not opposed to granting the motions to the extent of separately stating the claims alleged on behalf of Universal -and Borden, respectively, and I think that “clear presentation of the matters set forth” will be accomplished if this is done. • These motions are therefore granted to that extent.

The motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and for a more definite statement with respect to various allegations, are denied. I think that the allegations in the amended complaint, as they stand, state claims upon which relief can be granted.' More definite statements should not be needed, when the complaint is amended, to enable defendants- to answer.

The motions to strike out certain allegations in Paragraphs Nos. 28, 29, 30, 46 and 48, on the ground that they are “sham, frivolous, redundant, immaterial to the issues, impertinent and scandalous”, are denied. I find nothing-in these allegations to justify such a characterization.

The motion to strike out certain phrases, such as “as hereinafter more fully alleged”, from certain paragraphs, on the ground that they are immaterial, redundant, and not properly answerable, is plainly too frivolous to merit consideration, and it is denied.

The remaining motions are made by eleven defendants', namely, Universal, Borden, R. I. Ins., S. C. G., Birrell, the two Gotthilfs, Sloane, Turner, Toole and Goddard, to dismiss the action for improper-venue.

In November 1947, Universal, Borden, the two Gotthilfs, Turner, Toole and Goddard moved- to dismiss the original complaint for lack of diversity of citizenship. This motion was denied in April 1948. No objection as to venue was raised by them at that time, although the objection was then available. Under Rule 12(g) and (h) of the Federal Rules, the objection must be deemed waived, and may not be made by motion now, but may be raised by answer. Phillips v. Baker, 9 Cir., 121 [75]*75F.2d 752, 754-755, certiorari denied 314 U.S. 688, 62 S.Ct. 301, 86 L.Ed. 551; Moore’s Federal Practice, Vol. 1, Section 12.10, p. 662.

This leaves for consideration only the motions of R. I. Ins., S., C. G., Birrell and Sloane. The amended complaint alleges that all the plaintiffs are citizens of Illinois; that Universal is a Delaware corporation, Borden a New York corporation, R. I. Ins. a Rhode Island corporation, and S. C. G. a Virginia corporation, and that all the individual defendants are citizens of New York.

R. I. Ins. has an office in New York City and was personally served here with process on November 12, 1947. S. C. G. has not been licensed to do business in New York. Birrell states in an affidavit in support of his motion that he is, and has been since June 1946, prior to the commencement of the action, a citizen and resident of Pennsylvania. This now seems to be conceded by plaintiffs, and I shall assume that he is a citizen and resident of Pennsylvania. He was personally served with process in this State on October 26, 1947.

At the time the action was instituted, Section 51 of the Judicial Code, as amended in 1936, 28 U.S.C.A. § 112,1 was in effect.

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Bluebook (online)
9 F.R.D. 72, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/birnbaum-v-birrell-nysd-1948.