In re SLM Corp. Securities Litigation

258 F.R.D. 112, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35401, 2009 WL 969934
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 1, 2009
DocketMaster File No. 08 Civ. 1029(WHP)
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 258 F.R.D. 112 (In re SLM Corp. Securities Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re SLM Corp. Securities Litigation, 258 F.R.D. 112, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35401, 2009 WL 969934 (S.D.N.Y. 2009).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WILLIAM H. PAULEY III, District Judge.

By Memorandum and Order dated July 23, 2008, this Court appointed Westchester Capital Management, Inc. (“Westchester Capital”) lead plaintiff in this securities class action (the “July 2008 Order”). Westchester Capital is the investment advisor to two funds that invested in Defendant SLM Corporation (“SLM”). In its July 2008 Order, this Court noted that while district courts in this circuit had held that an investment ad-visor could serve as lead plaintiff, the Court of Appeals had not addressed that question. Moreover, this Court observed that two district courts outside this circuit had held that investment advisors lacked Article III standing because they did not suffer any injury-in-fact.

On December 3, 2008, the Court of Appeals addressed the issue, and reversed a [114]*114district court’s decision to denying a motion to dismiss for lack of standing in a securities action brought by an investment advisor. See W.R. Huff Asset Mgmt. v. Deloitte & Touche LLP, 549 F.3d 100 (2d Cir.2008). Lead Plaintiff Movant SLM Venture now moves for relief from the July 2008 Order and appointment as lead plaintiff. Westches-ter Capital moves for approval of an assignment of claims by the two funds it advises. For the following reasons, SLM Venture’s motion is granted and Westchester Capital’s motion is denied.

DISCUSSION

Courts have a “continuing duty to monitor whether lead plaintiffs are capable of adequately protecting the interests of the class members.” In re NYSE Specialists Sec. Litig., 240 F.R.D. 128, 133 (S.D.N.Y. 2007). Accordingly, despite the absence of explicit authorization under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”) or Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, courts have the “ability to consider motions to disqualify, remove, withdraw, substitute, and add lead plaintiffs throughout the litigation of a securities class action.” NYSE Specialists Sec. Litig., 240 F.R.D. at 132-33 (collecting cases).

I. W.R. Huff Asset Mgmt. v. Deloitte & Touche LLP

Huff involved an investment advisor to institutional investors that brought a securities action on behalf of certain purchasers of securities issued by Adelphia Communications Corporation (“Adelphia”). See 549 F.3d 100. Defendant challenged Huff’s Article III standing to sue on behalf of investment clients. The district court denied the motion.

On appeal, the Second Circuit held that because Huff had “not alleged in its complaint that it suffered any injury ... the dispositive question is whether Huff as the named plaintiff, can demonstrate an ‘injury-in-fact’ through some other means, such as an assignment of claims.” W.R. Huff, 549 F.3d at 107. While the Court of Appeals held that an “assignee who holds legal title to an injured party’s claim has constitutional standing to pursue the claim, even if the assignee has agreed to remit all proceeds from the litigation to the assignor,” Huff had not obtained legal title to its clients’ claims through a valid assignment. W.R. Huff, 549 F.3d at 107. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded to the district court.1 W.R. Huff, 549 F.3d at 108-11. Although the Court of Appeals did not decide whether “in the context of a class action under the PSLRA, an investment advisor could qualify as a suitable lead plaintiff,” it stated that “courts should be mindful that named plaintiffs in a class action must allege and show that they personally have been injured, not that injury has been suffered by other, unidentified members of the class to which they belong and which they purport to represent.” W.R. Huff, 549 F.3d at 106 n. 5 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

In light of W.R. Huff, this Court finds that Westchester Capital, as an investment advisor without a valid assignment of its clients’ claims, did not have Article III standing at the time this Court appointed it lead plaintiff.

II. Post-Appointment Assignment of Claims

A court should not dismiss a claim for lack of standing where “substitution of the real party in interest is necessary to avoid injustice.” Advanced Magnetics, Inc. v. Bayfront Partners, Inc., 106 F.3d 11, 20 (2d Cir.1997) (quoting 6A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1555 (2d ed.1990)). Accordingly, Rule 17(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a “court may not dismiss an action for failure to prosecute in the name of the real party in interest until, after an objection, a reasonable time has been allowed for the real party in interest to ratify, join, or be substituted into the action.” “Rule 17(a) is designed to avoid forfeitures of just claims.” Advanced Magnetics, 106 F.3d [115]*115at 20 (quoting Advisory Committee Notes (1966)).

Pursuant to Rule 17(a), Westchester Capital seeks approval of the assignment of claims by the two funds it advises. Since Huff, one district court has allowed an investment advisor plaintiff to cure its lack of standing by obtaining an assignment after the court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. See Northstar Fin. Advisors, Inc. v. Schwab Investments, 609 F.Supp.2d 938 (N.D.Cal.2009) (investment advisor plaintiff bringing claims under the Investment Company Act of 1940 lacked standing to bring claims on behalf of investors, but could amend complaint to allege an assignment it had received).

While Rule 17(a) allows for the substitution of a real party in interest, a plaintiff must have “Article III standing at the outset of the litigation.” Friends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Env’tl Servs. (TOC) Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 189, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000); see also Jones v. Goord, 435 F.Supp.2d 221, 225 (S.D.N.Y.2006) (“Standing is determined at the time a complaint is filed.”); Berger v. Weinstein, No. 07-994, 2008 WL 3183404, at *3 n. 4 (E.D.Pa. Aug.6, 2008) (“an assignment of legal rights which takes place after the commencement of litigation does not abdicate the constitutional requirement that standing must exist from the commencement of litigation”).

To the extent courts allow assignment of a claim after litigation commences, the plaintiff generally has Article III standing on at least one other claim at the time the action was filed. See, e.g., Advanced Magnetics, 106 F.3d at 14 (where plaintiff brought action on behalf of itself and certain of its shareholders, district court should have allowed substitution of shareholders with respect to their own claims because plaintiff did not have standing on those claims); Dubuque Stone Prod. Co. v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
258 F.R.D. 112, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35401, 2009 WL 969934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-slm-corp-securities-litigation-nysd-2009.