Indiana National Corp. v. Rich

554 F. Supp. 864, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17292
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 30, 1982
DocketIP 82-1622-C
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 554 F. Supp. 864 (Indiana National Corp. v. Rich) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indiana National Corp. v. Rich, 554 F. Supp. 864, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17292 (S.D. Ind. 1982).

Opinion

STECKLER, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on defendants’ Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint which seeks to enjoin the defendants from violating Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78m(d). The defendants advance two arguments for dismissing this complaint. First, they argue that the plaintiff lacks standing to sue since no private right of action exists in plaintiff’s favor under Section 13(d). Second, even if the plaintiff has standing to sue, the defendants’ subsequent actions have rendered the instant controversy moot.

A. Plaintiffs Complaint.

The plaintiff, Indiana National Corporation (“Indiana National”), filed this action seeking injunctive and declaratory relief from the defendants’ (“the Rich Group”) continued acquisition of Indiana National’s stock. The core of Indiana National’s complaint is its allegation that the defendants formed the Rich Group with the avowed purpose of obtaining control of Indiana National. Further, it alleges that once the Rich Group purchased more than 5% of Indiana National’s shares of common stock, this group failed to make a full and complete disclosure of its true intention to Indiana National and its shareholders by filing a false and misleading Schedule 13D in violation of Section 13(d), 15 U.S.C. § 78m(d), 1 (“Section 13(d)”). Specifically, Indiana National avers that the Rich Group made the following misrepresentations and *866 omissions in their Schedule 13D plus their Amendments 1 through 5 thereto.

First, the Rich Group failed to disclose that their true purpose in acquiring Indiana National’s stock is to take control of it.
Second, the Rich Group misrepresented their true purpose in acquiring Indiana National’s stock to be one of an investment, when, in fact, they intend to seek control of it.
Third, the Rich Group failed to disclose that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System had rejected their application to acquire a different bank holding company because their financial and managerial resources were unsatisfactory, and further, that acquisition of Indiana National will require the Board’s approval.
Fourth, the Rich Group failed to disclose the true source of the funds it is *867 using to purchase Indiana National’s stock.
Fifth, the Rich Group failed to disclose the identities of its members and the amount of shares held by each member.

The Rich Group began acquiring shares of the common stock of Indiana National some time in 1981. About September 4, 1981, a group comprised of Rich Investments, Inc., Norman and Martin D. Rich, plus Herbert M. Spector, filed a Schedule 13D with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as required by Section 13(d)(1), 15 U.S.C. § 78m(d)(l). These four investors reported in this Schedule 13D that they had acquired 254,400 shares of Indiana National’s common stock, no par value, which shares constituted approximately 5.14% of its then outstanding shares of common stock. This group of four investors subsequently filed Amendments 1, 2, and 3, on October 23,1981, December 28,1981, and February 8,1982, respectively. These three amendments reported that these original investors had purchased additional shares totaling (out of the then outstanding shares of common stock), respectively, 315,000 (6.37%), 368,000 (7.44%), and 416,000 (8.43%). These investors’ stake in Indiana National increased to 424,000 shares (8.56% of the outstanding shares) according to a fourth amendment filed on March 11, 1982, which amendment also indicated that the original investing group had changed to consist of MR Investment Associates and NR Investment Associates (each of which was composed of former shareholders of Rich Investments, Inc., which had been liquidated), plus Norman Rich, Martin D. Rich, and Herbert M. Spector. As indicated by the fifth amendment filed on May 17,1982, this latter group, minus Spector, had increased its beneficial ownership of shares of plaintiff’s common stock to 445,000 shares (8.89% of the outstanding stock). Finally, on August 10, 1982, a sixth amendment was filed by the same group which filed the March 11, 1982 fourth amendment. In the sixth amendment the “Rich Group” states that its investment in Indiana National consisted of 487,000 shares of 9.7% of the corporation’s outstanding shares.

B. Standing To Sue Under Section 13(d).

The issue presently under consideration has been decided within this District. In Dynamics Corp. of America v. Simcox, No. IP 80-1067-C (S.D.Ind. Jan. 20,1981) (order denying corporation defendant’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for lack of standing under Section 13(d)), the Court, the Honorable James E. Noland presiding, held that a private right of action under Section 13(d) is held by the corporation issuing the shares of stock. In this case Dynamics Corporation of America (Dynamics) sued the Indiana Secretary of State and the CTS Corporation (CTS) challenging the constitutionality of the Indiana takeover law. CTS counterclaimed against Dynamics alleging it violated various federal statutes and regulations pertaining to securities transactions and anti-competitive practices. Further, CTS sought injunctive relief to prevent violations of Sections 13(d), 14(d), and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. 15 U.S.C. §§ 78m(d), 78n(d), and 78n(e), respectively. Dynamics moved for a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of CTS’s counterclaim arguing that CTS lacked standing to assert a claim for injunctive relief under Section 13(d).

The Dynamics Corp. court acknowledged that two District Courts within the Seventh Circuit have held there is no private right of action under Section 13(d). See, Gateway Indus., Inc. v. Agency Rent A Car, Inc., 495 F.Supp. 92 (N.D.Ill.1980) (J. Aspen presiding); Sta-Rite Indus., Inc. v. Nortek, Inc., 494 F.Supp. 358 (E.D.Wis.1980) (J. Evans presiding). However, the holding and rationale of these two cases were rejected; instead, reliance was placed upon two different cases which held there is a private right of action under Section 13(d). See, Dan River, Inc. v. Unitex, Ltd., 624 F.2d 1216 (4th Cir.1980); Kirsch Co. v. Bliss & Laughlin Indus., Inc., 495 F.Supp. 488 (W.D.Mich.1980). Significantly, the Dynamics Corp. opinion neither contains a discussion of the divergent analyses of these two interpretations of Section 13(d), nor is there

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554 F. Supp. 864, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indiana-national-corp-v-rich-insd-1982.