Grace v. Rosenstock

169 F.R.D. 473, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18463, 1996 WL 711195
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 30, 1996
DocketNo. 85-CV-2039 (DGT)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 169 F.R.D. 473 (Grace v. Rosenstock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grace v. Rosenstock, 169 F.R.D. 473, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18463, 1996 WL 711195 (E.D.N.Y. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LEVY, United States Magistrate Judge:

Plaintiffs move pursuant to Rule 25 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for substitution of executors for two deceased named plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also move pursuant to Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to supplement and further amend their amended complaint. For the reasons set forth below, plaintiffs’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND AND FACTS

Plaintiffs, minority shareholders of defendant Briggs Leasing Corporation (“Briggs Leasing”),1 commenced this action individually, as a class, and derivatively to rescind and reform a freeze-out merger, under federal and state law, and for money damages and other appropriate relief. Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, filed on July 1, 1985,2 alleges that the freeze-out merger violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, N.Y.Bus. Corp. Law § 605(a), and the exception stated in Section 623, subd. (K) of the N.Y.Bus. Corp.Law. Plaintiffs also seek damages for breach of fiduciary obligation under New York state law.

By order dated August 14, 1986, the Honorable Mark A. Costantino, United States District Judge,- granted plaintiffs’ motion to certify this action as a class action, pursuant to Rules 23(a) and 23(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. By order dated March 17, 1994, the Honorable Sterling Johnson, Jr., United States District Judge, entered a default judgment on the issue of liability against defendants Briggs Leasing Corporation and Briggs Acquisition Corporation. Judge Johnson further ordered that plaintiffs be permitted to conduct further discovery as necessary and directed that an inquest on damages be held.

The primary transaction alleged in the amended complaint is the alleged freeze-out merger, on or about February 26, 1985, of the minority shareholders of Briggs Leasing. Plaintiffs allege that the self-interested defendants effectuated the freeze-out merger through the use of a materially false proxy statement, thereby freezing-out the minority shareholders at the allegedly inadequate price of $1.50 per share. The amended complaint seeks, inter alia, the rescission of the merger and the restoration of the minority shareholders to their status as full shareholders of Briggs Leasing. The amended com[476]*476plaint also contains a derivative claim on behalf of the corporation, which alleges that the individual defendants enriched themselves at the expense of Briggs Leasing and misappropriated Briggs Leasing’s corporate opportunities; for the derivative claim, plaintiffs seek damages that would be payable to the corporation.3

By their proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint, dated January 16, 1996, plaintiffs seek to add numerous allegations against defendants Robert Rosenstock and Richard Genser, and to add as defendants Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York (“Bank Leumi”), David Mack, Leo Berger, Apex Marine Corporation (“Apex Marine”), and attorney Gary Holman.

In essence, the proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint charges that, subsequent to the events alleged in the amended complaint, majority stockholder and director Robert Rosenstock and director Robert Genser4 caused Briggs Leasing to mortgage all of its real estate at 777 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck, New York and to incur loan obligations to proposed defendants Bank Leumi, David Mack, Leo Berger, and Apex Marine. Plaintiffs contend that the proceeds of the mortgages and other loan obligations went to Robert Rosenstock personally or to other businesses owned by Rosenstoek and others, including Genser, and that Briggs Leasing received only a fraction of the proceeds of those loans. The proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint alleges that these conveyances were made without any consideration, or without fair consideration to Briggs Leasing, and that they were transfers in fraud of creditors under New York’s Debtor-Creditor Law sections 273-a, 273, 274 and 276. Accordingly, the proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint alleges that defendants Rosenstock and Genser were unjustly enriched and breached their fiduciary duties to the corporation and to the minority shareholders.

With regard to Bank Leumi, David Mack, Leo Berger and Apex Marine, the proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint charges that those proposed defendants engaged in the above transactions knowing that they constituted fraudulent conveyances. Plaintiffs further accuse Gary Holman, Esq., the attorney for Briggs Leasing who allegedly supervised the above-described transactions, of breaching his fiduciary duty to Briggs Leasing and to plaintiffs.

Named plaintiffs Oliver R. Grace and Morgan H. Grace have died since the filing of the amended complaint. Accordingly, plaintiffs seek to substitute the executors of their estates pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 25. In addition, defendant Edward Rosenstock, who was Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Briggs Leasing at the time of the alleged freeze-out merger, died in 1987.

I. New Allegations Against Defendants Rosenstock and Genser

The proposed Supplemental and Second Amended Complaint alleges that after the alleged freeze-out merger took place in September of 1985, Briggs Leasing executed a number of notes and, in return, gave Bank Leumi mortgages on its property at 777 Northern Blvd. Specifically, plaintiffs allege that:

(1) on November 22, 1986, Briggs Leasing issued a note to Bank Leumi in the amount of $270,000, of which:

(a) $201,683.33 went to Robert Rosenstock personally by Bank Leumi issuing a check for that amount to Leo Berger in order for Rosenstock to purchase Berger’s fifty percent interest in 124 S. Middle Neck Road Associates; and
[477]*477(b) $68,316.67 went to Robert Rosenstock personally by Bank Leumi issuing a check for that amount to the New York State Tax Commission in connection with 124 S. Middle Neck Road; and

(2) on April 22, 1988, Briggs Leasing issued a note to Bank Leumi in the amount of $3,721,215.35, of which:

(a) Bank Leumi paid $743,175 to Leo Berger to pay off Robert Rosenstock’s personal note, plus interest, in connection with Robert Rosenstock’s purchase of Berger’s fifty percent interest in 124 S. Middle Neck Road Associates; and
(b) $398,451.86 went to Belgrave Oldsmobile, Inc., a company owned by Rosenstock and Genser; and
(c) Bank Leumi paid $306,185.53 to Lane Holding Co. to pay off a mortgage on 732 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck that was an obligation of RER Motors, Inc., Rosenstock and Genser’s Company; and

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Bluebook (online)
169 F.R.D. 473, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18463, 1996 WL 711195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grace-v-rosenstock-nyed-1996.