In re DVI, Inc. Securities Litigation

919 F. Supp. 2d 498, 2013 WL 247149, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8834
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 23, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 03-5336
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 919 F. Supp. 2d 498 (In re DVI, Inc. Securities Litigation) 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
In re DVI, Inc. Securities Litigation, 919 F. Supp. 2d 498, 2013 WL 247149, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8834 (E.D. Pa. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

LEGROME D. DAVIS, District Judge.

Plaintiff investors in Diagnostic Ventures, Inc. (DVI) sue for violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) and Rule 10b-5, [501]*50117 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5,1 and imposition of liability under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78t(a). Jurisdiction is the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78aa, and federal question, 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

Defendant Terry Cady — a former executive of DVI Business Credit, Inc. (DVI BC), a subsidiary of DVI — moves for summary judgment (Doc. No. 684). Fed. R.Civ.P. 56. Among other reasons reached here, the motion asserts that the record is devoid of evidence to support an essential element of a private securities action — reliance by investors on Cady’s allegedly deceptive statements and acts.2 Lead Plaintiffs oppose summary judgment, asserting that Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 552 U.S. 148, 157, 159, 128 S.Ct. 761, 169 L.Ed.2d 627 (2008) does not preclude Rule 10b-5 “claims against insiders that had the level of involvement in the frauds that Cady had.” Pls. Br., Doc. No. 699 at 1, 18-19, 20 n. 9. In their view, it should be presumed that investors relied on Cady’s allegedly deceptive statements and conduct because he was the president, chief executive officer, and a director of DVI BC as well as a senior vice president of DVI, Inc. Id. at 19-21 & nn. 9, 10. Among other reasons, Cady’s actions were “necessarily communicated to the public by virtue of DVI’s consolidated financial statements” because those statements “included the results of DVI BC’s operations and ... necessarily reflected Cady’s actions” as an executive officer. Id. Also: “Although Cady did not sign DVI’s consolidated financial statements, [he] adopted those statements (as shown in ’his November 2002 certification).” Id. at 18-19 (footnote omitted).

The motion for summary judgment asserts that Cady cannot be held liable within the meaning of § 20(a), primarily because the record does not contain proof of a threshold requirement — that Cady actually controlled DVI, the alleged violator of the securities laws, § 10(b). Def. Br., Ex. B, Doc. No. 684 at 15-20; Def. Reply Br., Doc. No. 719 at 16-20. Lead Plaintiffs contend that triable disputes exist as to this issue. Pis. Br., Doc. No. 699 at 3-14.

The motion for summary judgment will be granted. The record does not show that investors relied on any conduct or statements made by Cady. Within the meaning of § 20(a), he is not a person who had actual power or influence over the allegedly controlled person, DVI.

[502]*502I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Complaint, as filed on September 23, 2003, and amended for the fifth time and deemed filed on May 23, 2006 (Doc. Nos. 288, 298), alleges that Cady, individually and collectively with other DVI officers and directors, participated in a deceptive scheme to defraud purchasers of DVI’s securities and made untrue statements of material fact or omitted material facts necessary to clarify prior misleading statements — all in violation of § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5(a), (b), and (c).3 Compl. ¶ 493, Doc. No. 298. Specifically, it is averred that Cady engaged in numerous schemes to artificially inflate the price of DVI’s securities by concealing and delaying disclosure of accounting irregularities and deceptive lending practices or by failing to take corrective steps despite his knowledge of the improprieties. Id. ¶¶ 6(1)(a)(iv), 6(3), 7, 9, 29, 37, 47, 289, 291-296, 300, 489-508 (Count I). It is contended that these averments invoke “a presumption of reliance under the ‘fraud-on-the-market’ theory.”4 Id. ¶¶ 486-487. In addition, it is averred that Cady is liable under § 20(a) because he controlled DVI in its commission of primary violations of § 10(b). Id. ¶¶ 44-45(a), 290, 501-502, 566-574 (Count VI).5

The Complaint avers that at the time Plaintiffs purchased DVI’s securities, they “did not know DVI’s true financial condition or the scheme to conceal it.” Compl. ¶ 564 (Count V against Defendant Clifford Chance). Also, “they did not know of any of the false and/or misleading statements and omissions” in DVI’s public filings. Id. ¶¶ 506, 572 (Count I against Cady, an Individual Defendant).

Despite conclusory allegations of Rule 10b-5(b) liability, the Complaint does not [503]*503aver that Cady made any public statements or signed any company documents that affected the market for DVI’s securities, as was previously ruled under a previous version of the Complaint. May 31, 2005 Order & Mem., Doc. No. 181; In re DVI, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 03-5336, 2005 WL 1307959, at *7, *9 (E.D.Pa. May 31, 2005) (ruling on the Third Amended Complaint, Doc. No. 88).

On November 1, 2004, Cady moved to dismiss the Third Amended Complaint (Def. Mot., Doc. No. 107). Dismissal was granted in part as to the Rule 10b-5(b) claims because “Plaintiffs have not pled with the requisite particularity that ... Cady ... made any statements or signed any Company documents.” DVI, 2005 WL 1307959, at *7, *9. However, a question remained that our Court of Appeals had not addressed at that time: “whether signatories to financial statements can be held to have adopted that document as a statement.” Id. at *8. The Rule 10b-5(b) claims were permitted to “proceed on that basis, assuming that Plaintiffs have sufficiently pled the other elements of their securities fraud claim.” Id. at *8. The motion to dismiss the § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 claims and the § 20(a) claims was denied. Id. at *12, *13-14.

On December 4, 2006, Lead Plaintiffs moved under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) and 23(b)(3) (Doc. No. 406) to certify a class of all of the investors who purchased DVI securities during August 10, 1999 to August 13, 2003 — the period in which the company allegedly made misrepresentations. In addition to “fraud-on-the-market,” the motion for class certification invoked the presumption of reliance set forth in Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States, 406 U.S. 128, 153-54, 92 S.Ct. 1456, 31 L.Ed.2d 741 (1972)—a theory not stated in the Complaint. Pls. Reply Br., Doc. No. 451 at 101-04.

On April 29, 2008, class certification was granted as to all Defendants but Clifford Chance. Apr. 29, 2008 Mem. & Order, Doc. No. 609; May 30, 2008 Am. Order, Doc. No. 611; In re DVI Inc. Sec. Litig., 249 F.R.D. 196 (E.D.Pa.2008). That decision relied in large part on

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Bluebook (online)
919 F. Supp. 2d 498, 2013 WL 247149, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dvi-inc-securities-litigation-paed-2013.