In Re Affiliated Computer Services Derivative Litigation

540 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92401, 2007 WL 4440920
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 13, 2007
DocketMaster File 3:06-CV-1110-M
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 540 F. Supp. 2d 695 (In Re Affiliated Computer Services Derivative Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Affiliated Computer Services Derivative Litigation, 540 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92401, 2007 WL 4440920 (N.D. Tex. 2007).

Opinion

*698 MEMORANDUM ORDER AND OPINION

BARBARA M.G. LYNN, District Judge.

Before the Court are Motions to Dismiss filed by Defendants Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (“ACS”); J. Livingston Kos-berg, Dennis McCuistion, Joseph P. O’Neill, and Frank A. Rossi (Defendants Kosberg et al.); Lynn Blodgett, David W. Black, Peter A. Bracken, John M. Brophy, Darwin Deason, William L. Deckelman, Jr., Henry Hortenstine, Clifford M. Kendall, and John Rexford (Defendants Blod-gett et al.); Warren Edwards and Mark King; Jeffrey Rich; Cerberus Capital Management LP; and Supplemental Motions filed by Defendants Blodgett et al. and William L. Deckelman, Jr. Having considered all briefing on the issue and arguments made at the hearing held on the Motions on August 1, 2007, and for the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES Motions filed by Cerberus and Black (individually) as moot, given that Plaintiffs have dismissed their claims against those Defendants, and GRANTS in part and DENIES in part the remaining motions, as indicated herein. The Court GRANTS Plaintiffs leave to amend their Complaint as indicated herein.

Background

This case is a derivative action, brought on behalf of the shareholders of ACS on June 22, 2006, for the alleged backdating of stock options by various officers and directors of ACS. In their Amended Complaint filed April 6, 2007, Plaintiffs brought claims for violations of § 10(b), Rule lob-5, § 14(a), § 16(b), and § 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as state law claims for accounting, breach of fiduciary duties, abuse of control, mismanagement, constructive fraud, corporate waste, unjust enrichment, rescission, and breach of contract. These claims (“the backdating claims”) arise out of Defendants’ actions in allegedly causing, permitting, and/or concealing the backdating of stock option grants to ACS’s directors and top executive officers; failing to properly investigate whether these grants were improperly made; and failing to require the grant recipients to disgorge the options and the resulting proceeds from their exercise. Plaintiffs also claim that ACS’s directors breached their fiduciary duties by improperly pursuing a sale of the company in order to insulate themselves from liability for the claims alleged in this suit (“the buy-out claims”). Defendants filed motions to dismiss all of these claims.

Prior Rulings

At the hearing held by this Court on August 1, 2007, Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed without prejudice their claims against Defendant David Black, who is a Florida resident. Plaintiffs also voluntan *699 ly dismissed without prejudice their buyout claims, which they had asserted against all Defendants. The motions of Defendants Kosberg et al., Blodgett et al., and ACS to dismiss Plaintiffs’ buy-out claims are therefore DENIED as moot. Since the only claim asserted against Cerberus Capital Management LP was the buy-out claim, Cerberus is no longer a Defendant in the case. The Court therefore DENIES Cerberus Capital Management LP’s Motion as moot. The Court also ruled at the hearing that Plaintiffs had properly pleaded demand futility, so Motions filed by Defendants Rich, King, and Edwards to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint on that ground are DENIED. The Court dismissed Plaintiffs § 16(b) claims (Count IV) at the hearing, holding that exemptions pursuant to Rules 16b — 3(d)(1) and (3) applied. The Court therefore GRANTS Edwards and King’s Motion and Rich’s Motion on that basis and dismisses Count IV of Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint.

. Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 Claims

Plaintiffs assert claims under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, alleging that Defendants “engaged in acts, practices and a course of conduct that included the making of, or participation in the making of, untrue and/or misleading statements of material fact and/or omitting to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made about ACS not misleading,” and that the Defendants acted with scienter in doing so. Amended Complaint at ¶ ¶ 121, 123. In particular, Plaintiffs argue that Defendants made false or misleading statements in ACS’s public filings, including the 1994 initial public offering, and in Forms 10-K405 and 10-K filed from 1996 to 2005. Id. at ¶ ¶ 56, 86. Plaintiffs allege that the Registration and Prospectus for the 1994 initial public offering contained material misrepresentations that the exercise price of incentive stock options was equal to the fair market value of ACS common stock. Plaintiffs allege that the 1996 B 2005 Forms 10-K contained false representations that ACS was continuing to use Accounting Principles Board (“APB”) Opinion No. 25 in accounting for stock options, even though ACS had not taken a compensation expense since 1995 for “in-the-money” options, as required by APB No. 25. Plaintiffs also allege that the Defendants underreported ACS’s tax liability each year from 2000 to 2005, resulting in tax penalties and interest that made reports of ACS’s earnings, expenses, and liabilities materially false.

To state a claim under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, “a plaintiff must allege, in connection with the purchase or sale of securities: (1) a misstatement or an omission (2) of material fact (3) made with scienter (4) on which plaintiffs relied (5) that proximately cause the plaintiffs’ injury:” ABC Arbitrage Plaintiffs Group v. Tchuruk, 291 F.3d 336, 348 (5th Cir.2002). Under the heightened pleading standards of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”), if the Plaintiffs allege that a Defendant “made an untrue statement of a material fact” or “omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances in which they were made, not misleading,” then “the complaint shall specify each statement alleged to have been misleading, the reason or reasons why the statement is misleading, and, if an allegation regarding the statement or omission is made on information and belief, the complaint shall state with particularity all facts on which that belief is formed.” 15 U.S.C. § ,78u-4(b)(l). Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b) requires that “[i]n all averments of fraud or mistake, the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake shall be stated with particularity.” The Fifth Circuit has provided this summary test:

[A] plaintiff pleading a false or misleading statement or omission as the *700 basis for a section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 securities fraud claim must, to avoid dismissal pursuant to Rule 9(b) and 15 U.S.C. §§ 78u-4(b)(l) & 78u-4(b)(3)(A):
(1) specify ... each statement alleged to have been misleading, i.e., contended to be fraudulent;
(2) identify the speaker;
(3) state when and where the statement was made;
(4) plead with particularity the contents of the false representations;

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Bluebook (online)
540 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92401, 2007 WL 4440920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-affiliated-computer-services-derivative-litigation-txnd-2007.