Cohen v. Uniroyal, Inc.

77 F.R.D. 685, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 973, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14372
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 22, 1977
DocketCiv. A. No. 76-2989
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 77 F.R.D. 685 (Cohen v. Uniroyal, 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
Cohen v. Uniroyal, Inc., 77 F.R.D. 685, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 973, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14372 (E.D. Pa. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, District Judge.

Plaintiff Edmund Cohen, a present shareholder of Universal, Inc., has brought suit against Uniroyal and Haskins & Sells, certified public accountants and Uniroyal’s auditors, alleging that defendants have violated Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act.1 Plaintiff has moved pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 for certification as a class of “ . . . all who purchased Uniroyal securities who sustained loss between December 1, 1972 and November 15, 1975, with the exception of defendants named in the Complaint.” [Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Determination, p. 6.] Defendants oppose such certification on the grounds that, with the exception of the required showing of numerosity, plaintiff has not satisfied the requirements of Rule 23. For the reasons stated herein, this court will certify the class.

When this action began, Mr. Cohen was the owner of 300 shares of Uniroyal’s common stock. The first purchase made in December, 1972, was for 100 shares at $157/s per share. Approximately one year later, in January, 1974, plaintiff purchased another 100 shares for $88/i per share. The remaining 100 shares were purchased in October, 1975, for $9V8 per share. [Cohen’s Deposition, pp. 11, 17, 21]. Plaintiff seeks to represent all shareholders who purchased Uniroyal securities between December 1, 1972 and November 15, 1975, two weeks after Mr. Cohen’s last purchase, because plaintiff alleges that it was on November 15, 1975 that many of the material facts which form the gravamen of this complaint were disclosed to the public for the first time in an article about Uniroyal which appeared in Forbes Magazine. [Plaintiff’s Reply Brief Exhibit A].

In his complaint plaintiff has asserted that during the class period defendants (through employees and agents) engaged in acts, transactions, practices and courses of business which operated as a fraud and [689]*689deceit upon plaintiff and other class members. It is further alleged that defendants made various misrepresentations of material facts and failed to disclose other material facts in several documents, including Uniroyal’s annual reports for the years 1971 to 1974 which were distributed to the shareholders and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Defendants’ actions are alleged to violate § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 which makes unlawful the use of manipulative and deceptive devices in connection with the purchase or sale of any security.

Plaintiff asserts that the 1971 through 1974 Annual Reports failed to disclose the following:

1. that Uniroyal had suffered sustained foreign exchange losses [Complaint ¶ 14(a)];
2. that large capital expenditures were needed in order for the polyvinyl chloride manufacturing process in the Painesville, Ohio plant to comply with existing and proposed federal regulations [Complaint ¶ 14(d)];
3. that excess capacity and product unprofitability necessitated the closing of production facilities, at an estimated loss of $7.3 million to Uniroyal [Complaint ¶ 14(e)];
4. that Uniroyal’s investment in PASA, an Argentine affiliate was unprofitable and would be written off as a loss, although Uniroyal was obligated to honor a $5.4 million debt [Complaint ¶ 14(f)];
5. that the company’s unfunded pensions obligations amounted to $395,-000,000 as of January 2, 1972 [Complaint ¶ 14 — (b)];
6. that Uniroyal’s cash resources were inadequate to maintain its quarterly dividends at previously established levels [Complaint ¶ 14(p)];
7. that Uniroyal’s pension and profit expenses were disproportionately higher than those generally prevailing in the tire and rubber industry [Complaint ¶ 14(q)];
8. the extent of Uniroyal’s exposure to claims arising out of illness or death of employees as a result of exposure to strene-butadiene rubber and polyvinyl chloride resin [Complaint, ¶ 14(c)];
9. the extent of Uniroyal’s liability pursuant to litigation alleging violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act [Complaint, ¶ 14(h), (m)];
10. the extent of Uniroyal’s liability pursuant to the entry of a partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiff in Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, 71 F.R.D. 461 (U.S.D.C., N.D.Indiana) (entered July 5, 1973), a class action in which' plaintiffs alleged discriminatory actions by Uniroyal in an Indiana plant [Complaint, ¶ 14(u), (j), (g), (/)];
11. that Chrapliwy had brought suit against the Secretary of Labor to force the government to conduct a compliance review of Uniroyal and its employment practices, Chrapliwy v. Dunlop, Civil Action No. 75-1705 (D.C.D.C.), and that as a result of that suit and other federal actions Uniroyal could be found ineligible to hold federal government contracts which amounted to $46.9 million in the year ending June 30,1976. [Complaint, ¶ 14(n), (o)].

It is plaintiff’s contention that defendants’ misrepresentations caused plaintiff and other class members to purchase securities for excessive consideration during the class period.

For this suit to be certified as a class action, plaintiff has the burden of showing that all four requirements of Rule 23(a) and at least one of the subsections of Rule 23(b) have been satisfied. Boston Pneumatics, Inc. v. Ingersoll-Rand, 65 F.R.D. 61, 63 (E.D.Pa.1974); B & B Investment Club v. Kleinert’s Inc., 62 F.R.D. 140, 145 (E.D.Pa. 1974); Philadelphia Electric Co. v. Anaconda American Brass, 43 F.R.D. 452, 457 (E.D. Pa.1968). Rule 23(a) provides that a class may be certified:

[690]*690only if (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.

The numerosity requirement has been met. Plaintiff asserts that during the alleged class period approximately 15,000,-000 common shares were traded; as of December 28, 1975, more than 75,000 were listed as holders of record of Uniroyal securities. [Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification, page 6.] Moreover, defendants have not challenged plaintiff’s assertions as to numerosity.

Defendants have vigorously argued that plaintiff has been unable to meet his burden with respect to the second requirement of Rule 23(a), namely the existence of common questions of law or fact. It is defendants’ contention that plaintiff’s allegation of a conspiracy suggested by the existence of “a common core of questions” is an insufficient justification for the certification of a class comprised of all who either bought and still hold Uniroyal securities, or those who bought and held Uniroyal securities at some time during the approximately 35 month class period. It is their view that because the alleged misrepresentations appear in several different documents and because each document pertains to a different time period, plaintiff’s class does not present common issues of law and fact.

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Bluebook (online)
77 F.R.D. 685, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 973, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-uniroyal-inc-paed-1977.