Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch

751 F.2d 906, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 16356
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedNovember 29, 1984
DocketNo. 84-5210
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 751 F.2d 906 (Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch, 751 F.2d 906, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 16356 (8th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc., and Cardiff Equities Corporation (Cardiff) appeal from a district court order dismissing Cardiff’s complaint requesting preliminary and permanent injunctive relief preventing the Commissioner of Commerce, the Attorney General, and the Conwed Corporation from enforcing the Minnesota Corporate TakeOvers Act, 1984 Minn.Laws ch. 488, to be codified as Minn.Stat.Ann. chs. 80B and 302A. The district court held that the Act does not violate either the commerce or the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution. It reasoned that the Minnesota Take-Overs Act does not directly regulate interstate commerce, because “its scope is limited to Minnesota shareholders of companies that have a substantial nexus with the state [and] Minnesota claims no right under the statute to suspend the effect of a tender offer with regard to shareholders outside of Minnesota.” Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch, 597 F.Supp. 1493, at 1497 (D.Minn.1984).

The district court recognized that the statute has indirect effects on interstate commerce, but it determined that these effects were outweighed by the state's legitimate interest in protecting local investors, Id. at 1497-1498.

The district court a]g0 held that the take. 0Ver statute does not violate the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution. It reasoned that Section 28(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 specifically permits states to enact tender offer legislation consistent with the Williams Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78m(d)-(e) and 78n(d)-(f) (1982). It stated:

The Minnesota Act is consistent with the ParP°se+sof the Williams Minne’ sfafCí 18 essentially a dlScloSur® ** thfu r^”res df osarue Parallel that m the Williams Act. The purpose of the disclosure requirements under both acts is shareholder protection. The principal additional disclosure required under the Minnesota Act (the effect that a takeover wil1 hav® on the state) is not in any mconsistent to th+e PurPose °f„ th® disclosure requirements under federal law and serves to protect the unique interests of Minnesota shareholders. c<K]rt does not believe that the additional disclosure required by the Minne-so*a ^ct will result in the shareholders receiving a mass of irrelevant informa-^ion ^at w*d s®r^e confuse rather ^han enlighten, * * * *
In conclusion, while there may exist some conflicts between the provisions of the Williams Act and the Minnesota Take-Overs Act, the Supreme Court instructs that the “... proper approach is to reconcile the operation of both statutory schemes with one another rather than holding one completely ousted.” Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Ware, 414 U.S. 117, 127 [94 S.Ct. 383, 389, 38 L.Ed.2d 348] (1973). That can clearly be done in this case. The Minnesota Act does not sufficiently conflict with the Williams Act so as to make [909]*909compliance with both impossible or to frustrate the purposes of it. This court therefore holds that the Minnesota Corporate Take-Overs Statute does not violate the supremacy clause.

Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch, 597 F.Supp. 1493, at 1498-1499, 1500 (D.Minn. 1984) (citation omitted).

We affirm in part the district court’s decision that the Minnesota Act is not facially unconstitutional because we believe the Act may be narrowly construed in a manner which 1) is substantially consistent with the Williams Act; 2) is not unduly burdensome to interstate commerce; and 3) serves the state’s legitimate interest in protecting local investors. We agree that Minnesota may require disclosures in addition to those required under the Williams Act before a tender offer becomes effective within the state so long as the disclosures are purely factual and not judgmental in nature, are not inconsistent with the Williams Act and are not unduly burdensome to interstate commerce. Applying these tests, we approve, in part, the additional disclosures required by the Commissioner.

I. FACIAL CONSTITUTIONALITY OF MINNESOTA TAKE-OVERS ACT.

A. Commerce Clause.

In Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U.S. 624, 102 S.Ct. 2629, 73 L.Ed.2d 269 (1982), the Supreme Court held that the Illinois Business Takeover Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 12114, f 137.51-70 (1979), is unconstitutional under the commerce clause of the federal Constitution, Art. I, § 8, cl. 3. Justice White’s five-part opinion considered MITE’s challenges to the Illinois Act under the supremacy clause and direct and indirect commerce clause tests, but a majority only adopted Part V-B.1 Part V-B holds that the Illinois Act violates the commerce clause under the accepted standard set forth in Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137, 142, 90 S.Ct. 844, 847, 25 L.Ed.2d 174 (1970), because the indirect burdens on interstate commerce were excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. Justice White’s opinion indicated that several provisions of the Illinois Act were particularly burdensome to interstate commerce; Part V-B, however, relied principally on the provisions of the Act which authorized the Secretary of State to suspend a tender offer even where none of the target corporation’s shareholders were Illinois residents:

While protecting local investors is plainly a legitimate state objective, the State has no legitimate interest in protecting nonresident shareholders. Insofar as the Illinois law burdens out-of-state transactions, there is nothing to be weighed in the balance to sustain the law.

Id., 457 U.S., at 644, 102 S.Ct. at 2642.

Justice Powell provided the vote necessary to obtain a majority with the reservation, “I join Part V-B because its Commerce Clause reasoning leaves some room for state regulation of tender offers.” Id., 457 U.S. at 646,102 S.Ct. at 2643.

The Minnesota Act is materially different in scope and application from the Illinois Act at issue in MITE. The Minnesota Act was revised in 1984, in light of MITE and its progeny, to reduce its burden on interstate commerce and to tighten its relation to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting resident investors. MITE is distinguishable because none of the provisions of the Illinois Act2 which the Court indicated were signifi[910]*910cant burdens on interstate commerce are present in the Minnesota Act.

1. Under the Illinois Act, a tender offer- or must notify the Secretary of State and the target company of its intent to make a tender offer and the material terms of the offer twenty business days before the offer becomes effective. Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 121-½, ¶ 137.54.E (1979). During that time, the offeror may not communicate its offer to the shareholder. Meanwhile, the target company is free to disseminate information to its shareholders concerning the pending offer.

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Cardiff Acquisitions, Inc. v. Hatch
751 F.2d 906 (Eighth Circuit, 1985)

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751 F.2d 906, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 16356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cardiff-acquisitions-inc-v-hatch-ca8-1984.