Great Western United Corporation v. Kidwell

577 F.2d 1256
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedAugust 10, 1978
Docket77-2809
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 577 F.2d 1256 (Great Western United Corporation v. Kidwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Western United Corporation v. Kidwell, 577 F.2d 1256 (5th Cir. 1978).

Opinion

577 F.2d 1256

Blue Sky L. Rep. P 71,433, Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 96,529
GREAT WESTERN UNITED CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Wayne L. KIDWELL, Attorney General of Idaho, Defendant,
Tom D. McEldowney, Director of the Department of Finance of
the State of Idaho, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 77-2809.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 10, 1978.

James P. Kaufman, Ellis McKay, Asst. Attys. Gen., Dept. of Finance, State of Idaho, Boise, Idaho, for defendant-appellant.

Ivan Irwin, Al B. Conant, Jr., Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

Harvey L. Pitt, Gen. Counsel, Washington, D. C., amicus curiae for Securities & Exchange Comm.

David J. Della-Bitta, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Conn., Hartford, Conn., amicus curiae for State of Conn.

Donald A. Antrim, Asst. Atty. Gen., Columbus, Ohio, amicus curiae for State of Ohio.

P. Roger Googe, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., amicus curiae for State of Miss.

John R. Flowers, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., New Orleans, La., amicus curiae for State of La.

Louis J. Lefkowitz, Atty. Gen. of N. Y., New York City, amicus curiae for State of New York.

Michael L. Deamer, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Donald B. Holbrook, Salt Lake City, Utah, amicus curiae for State of Utah.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before WISDOM, GODBOLD and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This appeal involves important issues relating to a state statute regulating corporate takeovers through tender offers. The plaintiff-appellee is Great Western United Corporation (Great Western), a publicly owned Delaware corporation with its major executive offices located in Dallas, Texas. The principal officers, all directors, and the controlling shareholders of Great Western reside in Dallas. The defendant-appellant is Tom D. McEldowney, Director of the Idaho Department of Finance, charged with responsibility for enforcing the Idaho Takeover Statute, Idaho Code §§ 30-1501-13 (Cum.Supp.1977).1

Idaho, as well as thirty-one other states, regulates corporate takeovers through a tender offer.2 This case presents questions whether the Idaho law, as McEldowney seeks to apply it here, may stand under the supremacy and commerce clauses of the United States Constitution and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78a et seq. (the 1934 Act), as amended by the Williams Act.3 The basic questions applicable to all state takeover statutes have never been decided by a federal court of appeals.4 Because this suit was brought in Texas, not Idaho, the case also raises novel questions of jurisdiction and venue. The district court determined that the prerequisites of personal jurisdiction and venue were satisfied. After a hearing on the merits, the court declared the Idaho statute unconstitutional because the 1934 Act preempts it and because it creates a burden on interstate commerce forbidden by article I, § 8, cl. 3 of the Constitution. Great Western United Corp. v. Kidwell, N.D.Tex.1977, 439 F.Supp. 420. McEldowney, joined by several states as amici,5 strongly objects to all these rulings. We affirm the district court's rulings that personal jurisdiction existed and that venue was proper. On the merits, we agree with the position of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the Williams Act preempts Idaho's takeover law because the state statute "presents a serious conflict with the administration of the federal program for the regulation of tender offers". SEC amicus brief at 47. We also affirm the district court's commerce clause ruling.

I.

FACTS

Sunshine Mining and Metal Co. (Sunshine) is a publicly owned company incorporated in the State of Washington. Its principal executive office and over fifty percent of its assets are located in Idaho. Sunshine has a wholly owned subsidiary with manufacturing facilities based in Maryland. In addition, Sunshine engages in significant business activities in New York. The shareholders of Sunshine live throughout the United States. Its securities are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. They are not registered in Idaho.

In March 1977, Great Western decided to make a tender offer for 2,000,000 shares of Sunshine common stock.6 The tender offer of a net price of $15.75 a share was offered Sunshine shareholders across the United States. Because the tender offer was national in scope and the means and facilities of interstate commerce and the mails were necessary tools in making the tender offer, Great Western was required to comply with the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 governing corporate tender offers.7

The Williams Act includes disclosure requirements, substantive restrictions on tender offers, and a general antifraud provision. It also confers broad rule-making authority upon the SEC.8 The disclosure provisions of § 14(d) (1), 15 U.S.C. § 78n(d)(1), require specified information from any party making a tender offer which would result in that party's ownership of more than five percent of a class of equity securities registered under the 1934 Act. That information includes the purchaser's identity and background, the amount and source of the funds used for the purchase, the purpose of the purchase, any plans for liquidation, merger, or other significant changes in business or corporate structure of the target company, the number of shares the purchaser owns, and the details of any agreements with other parties concerning shares in the target corporation.9

On March 21, 1977, Great Western filed a Schedule 13D with the SEC disclosing the information specified in the Williams Act.10 The same day, Great Western publicly announced its intention to make a tender offer for 2,000,000 shares of Sunshine.

Had only the Williams Act regulated Great Western's proposed tender offer, the offer would have commenced on March 21, 1977.11 Idaho's takeover statute, however, also applied to Great Western's offer.12 In addition, the laws of New York and Maryland arguably applied to the offer.

Idaho's takeover law required Great Western, among other things, (1) to submit to the Director of the Idaho Department of Finance a preeffective filing disclosing Great Western's intention to make a tender offer and the terms of the offer;13 (2) to transmit, at the same time, a copy of that filing to Sunshine;14 (3) to publish an advertisement describing the intention to make an offer and the proposed material terms;15

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Related

Leroy v. Great Western United Corp.
443 U.S. 173 (Supreme Court, 1979)

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