Blumenthal v. Great American Mortgage Investors

74 F.R.D. 508, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11709
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 22, 1976
DocketCiv. A. No. 76-107 A
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 74 F.R.D. 508 (Blumenthal v. Great American Mortgage Investors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blumenthal v. Great American Mortgage Investors, 74 F.R.D. 508, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11709 (N.D. Ga. 1976).

Opinion

ORDER

RICHARD C. FREEMAN, District Judge.

This is an action for damages brought on account of alleged violations of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted pursuant thereto, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5. Jurisdiction is grounded upon § 27 of the Securities Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78aa. The action is presently before this court on plaintiffs’ amended motion for class certification, see Rule 23(c), Fed.R.Civ.P., filed in accordance with the directions of this court in its order entered June 2, 1976.

In that order, this court deferred ruling on plaintiffs’ class certification motion noting that “the vague and unrefined tenor of plaintiffs’ allegations [with respect to the alleged ‘continuing course of conduct’] ma[d]e it impossible for the court to speculate on whether plaintiffs ha[d] satisfied the prerequisites to class certification,” noting further that the failure “to specify even á single prospectus or other document containing the purported written misrepresentations which might warrant the court to find that there are questions of law and fact common to the class” was fatal to the motion.

Plaintiffs Jacob (“Jack”) and Blanche Blumenthal seek to represent the putative class composed of:

all purchasers ... of shares of beneficial interest of Trust, who bought such shares between August, 1969, and October 21, 1971, excepting any officers and/or directors of any defendant herein

[hereinafter the “1969-1971 class”]. Plaintiffs Albert and Paul Blumenthal seek to represent the putative class constituting

all purchasers ... of shares of beneficial interest of Trust, who bought such shares between October 22, 1971, and March 7, 1975, excepting any officers and/or directors of any defendant herein,

[hereinafter the “1971-75 class”].

The rationale behind the parameters of the two proposed classes is apparently that in August, 1969, GAMI commenced operations, while on March 7, 1975, one of the defendants herein, Arthur Andersen and Co. [here[511]*511inafter “Arthur Andersen”], disclosed that it could no longer express an opinion as to the financial condition of GAMI, as represented in certified financials for the fiscal-years 1971, 1972 and 1973.

In the instant action, plaintiffs allege that defendant engaged in a “common course of conduct” that violated the federal securities laws for a period of time since it commenced operations. In particular, plaintiffs allege that defendant made misrepresentations or omitted to state material facts, including, but not limited to, the assurance that the GAMI reserve for loan losses was adequate, that GAMI investigated each1 developer and builder to which it loaned money to determine the economic soundness of each loan, that GAMI continued to advance money to existing obligors in order to conceal defaults on payments of principal and interest and failed to disclose such additional loans in relevant written documents disseminated to the public.

At the outset, we note that the burden of demonstrating that the prerequisites of Rule 23 have been satisfied falls on those who seek ,to maintain the class action. Amswiss International Corp. v. Heublein, Inc., 69 F.R.D. 663 (N.D.Ga.1975); Tolbert v. Western Electric Co., 56 F.R.D. 108 (N.D.Ga.1972). Thus, the named class representative must demonstrate that all the requirements of Rule 23(a) have been satisfied, and that one of the categories in Rule 23(b) has been met.

NUMEROSITY

Rule 23(a)(1) requires that the proposed class be so numerous that joinder of all its members would be impracticable. Plaintiffs have alleged that the putative class would consist of approximately 7,000 purchasers or shareholders of GAMI, and all the defendants apparently concede that the numerosity requirement has been met.

COMMON QUESTIONS OF LAW AND FACT

The requirement of Rule 23(a)(2) that there exist questions of law or fact common to the class as a whole is closely related to the further requirement of Rule 23(b)(3) that the common legal or factual questions predominate over those affecting the individual members of the class. Plaintiffs have alleged in rather vague and general terms the existence of common legal questions, including (1) whether the annual reports, prospectuses, quarterly reports, and other documents were false and misleading; (2) the materiality of alleged misstatements and omissions contained in such documents; (3) whether the defendants used manipulative and deceptive devices in connection with the purchase and sale of shares; and (4) the responsibility of the various defendants for the violations of the federal securities laws.

Plaintiffs, by amendment in response to this court’s order of June 2, 1976, have listed six purported documents upon which they assert that the court might predicate a finding of commonality with respect to representations made to persons similarly situated. Specifically, plaintiffs rely upon:

1. GAMI’s Annual Report for the Fiscal Year ended July 31,1971 [dated October 21,1971], including the prospectus for $250,000,000 worth of subordinated debentures. (1971 prospectus) [dated October 21, 1971]
2. Prospectus dated November 16, 1972, for $250,000,000 worth of subordinated debentures due October 1, 1979 (1972 prospectus) [dated November 16, 1972]
3. Annual Report . . . [filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission] for the Fiscal Year ended July 31, 1973, including the prospectus for 63,512 shares of beneficial interest (1973 prospectus) [dated October 20, 1973]
4. Quarterly report to shareholders dated March 4, 1974.

It is well settled that any material variations made or degrees of reliance thereon may make a securities fraud action inappropriate for class treatment. See Simon v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, Inc., 482 F.2d 880, 882 (5th Cir. [512]*5121973); Rule 23, Advisory Committee’s Official Note, 39 F.R.D. 98, 107 (1966). Thus, as a general rule purported class actions based on oral rather than written misrepresentations may not be maintained as class actions. Id. See, e. g., Morris v. Burchard, 51 F.R.D. 530 (S.D.N.Y.1971); Moscarelli v. Stamm, 288 F.Supp. 453 (E.D.N.Y.1968). Likewise, if the written representations contain material variations, or if they do not reach the investors, they form no valid basis for class treatment. Cf. Harris v. Palm Springs Alpine Estates, Inc., 329 F.2d 909 (9th Cir. 1964); Frankel v. Wyllie & Thornhill, Inc., 55 F.R.D. 330 (W.D.Va.1972); Dolgow v. Anderson, 43 F.R.D. 472 (E.D.N.Y.1968); Richland v. Cheatham, 272 F.Supp. 148 (S.D.N.Y.1967).

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Bluebook (online)
74 F.R.D. 508, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blumenthal-v-great-american-mortgage-investors-gand-1976.