Huffington v. ENSTAR Corp.

589 F. Supp. 624, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15554, 1984 WL 914412
District Court, S.D. Texas·Decided June 26, 1984·No. No. H-84-2610·Published

Opinion

ORDER

McDONALD, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs’ request for preliminary injunction and Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. The Court has been advised by the parties that the tender offer which is the subject of the litigation at hand closes on June 26, 1984 at midnight, Eastern Standard Time, and that therefore a decision in the matter at bar is needed today. Accordingly, the Court issues the instant Order, to be followed at a later date by a more extensive discussion of the issues in the case.1

I. Background

On June 15, 1984, Plaintiffs Roy M. Huffington and Roy M. Huffington, Inc. filed the above-styled case. Plaintiffs’ Complaint requested, inter alia, that the Court preliminarily enjoin the consummation of the tender offer by Defendant Uni-mar Co. for the stock of Defendant ENS-TAR Corp. Plaintiffs on June. 18 moved this Court to grant expedited discovery. ENSTAR filed a Motion to Dismiss or for Stay on June 19, and the remaining Defendants filed a companion Motion to Dismiss and/or Stay on the same date. Both of these Motions contended that Plaintiffs could not sue under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 15 U.S.C. § 79, (“PUHCA”), the impending violation of which formed the basis for Plaintiffs’ request for equitable relief.2 The Court held a hearing on June 19 on the Motion for Expedited Discovery. At that hearing, the parties agreed to conduct expedited discovery, and the Court established a briefing schedule in regard to the preliminary injunction and the Motions to Dismiss. The Court, having reviewed the fine briefing by the able attorneys on both sides of this action, both received testimony and documentary evidence and heard oral argument at a hearing on June 25.

II. Discussion

The Court has determined that it cannot grant preliminary injunctive relief in the case at bar, as PUHCA does not provide a cause of action for the type of relief Plaintiffs here seek.

The Court bases its decision on the Cort v. Ash3 test for when a statute implies a private cause of action. Cort instructs that in deciding whether an implied private right to sue exists, four factors must be considered:

In determining whether a private remedy is implicit in a statute not expressly [626] providing one, several factors are relevant. First, is the plaintiff “one of the class for whose especial benefit the statute was enacted,” Texas & Pacific R. Co. v. Rigsby, 241 U.S. 33, 39 [36 S.Ct. 482, 484, 60 L.Ed. 874] (1916) (emphasis supplied) — that is,, does the statute create a federal right in favor of the plaintiff? Second, is there any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create such a remedy or to deny one? See, e.g., National Railroad Passengers Corp. v. National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 414 U.S. 453, 458, 460 [94 S.Ct. 690, 693, 694, 38 L.Ed.2d 646] (1974) {Amtrak). Third, is it consistent with the underlying purposes of the legislative scheme to imply such a remedy for the plaintiff? See, e.g., Amtrak, supra; Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Barbour, 421 U.S. 412, 423 [95 S.Ct. 1733, 1740, 44 L.Ed.2d 263] (1975); Calhoon v. Harvey, 379 U.S. 134 [85 S.Ct. 292, 13 L.Ed.2d 190] (1964). And finally, is the cause of action one traditionally relegated to state law, in an area basically the concern of the States, so that it would be inappropriate to infer a cause of action based solely on federal law? See Wheeldin v. Wheeler, 373 U.S. 647, 652 [83 S.Ct. 1441, 1445, 10 L.Ed.2d 605] (1963); cf. J.I. Case Co. v. Borak, 377 U.S. 426, 434 [84 S.Ct. 1555, 1560, 12 L.Ed.2d 423] (1964); Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 394-395 [91 S.Ct. 1999, 2003-2004, 29 L.Ed.2d 619] (1971); id. at 400 [91 S.Ct. at 2006] (Harlan, J., concurring in judgment).

Cort, 422 U.S. at 78, 95 S.Ct. at 2088.

Applying those factors to the case at bar, the Court concludes that PUHCA does not contain a cause of action for the Plaintiffs in the instant suit. First, Plaintiffs have the burden of establishing that they are in the especial class for which PUHCA was enacted. Roy Huffington testified at the June 25 hearing, and the Court has the benefit of decisions by other courts involved in this saga of challenges to the tender offer approved by ENSTAR’s Board of Directors. The Court, mindful of the testimony and these decisions, considers that Plaintiffs are not members of the class for which PUHCA was enacted.

The second4 Cort factor is whether legislative intent indicates that a private cause of action exists. No support can be found in the legislative history of PUHCA for the asserted private cause of action under the Act prior to a finding of a violation of that Act by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Compare Goldstein v. Groesbeck, discussed infra.

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Huffington v. ENSTAR Corp., 589 F. Supp. 624, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15554, 1984 WL 914412 (S.D. Tex. 1984).

589 F. Supp. 624 (Huffington v. ENSTAR Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Rigsby
241 U.S. 33 (Supreme Court, 1916)
Wheeldin v. Wheeler
373 U.S. 647 (Supreme Court, 1963)
J. I. Case Co. v. Borak
377 U.S. 426 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Calhoon v. Harvey
379 U.S. 134 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Cort v. Ash
422 U.S. 66 (Supreme Court, 1975)
Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington
442 U.S. 560 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis
444 U.S. 11 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Goldstein v. Groesbeck
142 F.2d 422 (Second Circuit, 1944)
Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Barbour
421 U.S. 412 (Supreme Court, 1975)