Longden v. Sunderman

123 F.R.D. 547, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15020, 1988 WL 141363
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 8, 1988
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 3-86-1737-H, 3-87-0569-H, 3-87-0572-H, 3-87-0603-H, 3-87-0608-H, 3-87-0609-H and 3-87-0612-H
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 123 F.R.D. 547 (Longden v. Sunderman) 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
Longden v. Sunderman, 123 F.R.D. 547, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15020, 1988 WL 141363 (N.D. Tex. 1988).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SANDERS, Acting Chief Judge.

Before the Court are Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification, filed February 9, 1988; Arthur Andersen & Co., and Alfred C. Hagemann’s (collectively “Andersen”) Response in Opposition, filed July 29, 1988; Plaintiffs’ Reply, filed August 22, 1099; Andersen’s Sur-Reply, filed September 6, 1988; Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Brief in Response thereto, filed October 20, 1988; Andersen’s Response thereto, filed October 27,1988, together with substantial evidence submitted by both sides (including all private placement memorandums and a list thereof, filed October 6, 1980) in support of their respective positions. The Court heard oral argument on the class certification motion on October 28, 1988. For the reasons set forth below, the Court has decided to [550]*550certify a class of investors as described in the Plaintiffs Fourth Amended Complaint.

I. BACKGROUND

This securities fraud litigation arises out of the sale of approximately $100 million worth of interests in various real estate limited partnerships owning property in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Wyoming and the Cayman Islands. Between October 1986 and June 1987, 93 individual lawsuits were filed in this Court in connection with these offerings by approximately 850 plaintiffs and were subsequently consolidated for purposes of pretrial and discovery proceedings.

On February 11, 1988, a Fourth Amended Complaint (“the Class Action Complaint”) 1 was filed. Six named Plaintiffs2 (“Plaintiffs”), whose investments cover a total of seven limited partnerships are attempting to proceed as class representatives for over 4000 persons who invested in these seven partnerships and in 114 other limited partnerships offered over a five year period. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, Plaintiffs move for certification of a class of plaintiffs defined as follows:

All persons who purchased partnership interests in the limited partnerships sponsored, syndicated or promoted by Jeffrey S. Sunderman and Sunwise Corporation and each of its subsidiaries or related entities during the period May 1, 1979 to December 31,1984, except for (a) defendants and their immediate families; (b) named co-conspirators; (c) the Sunder-man corporations, their employees and agents and (d) the immediate families of such employees and agents.

The Class Action Complaint alleges violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (“RICO”), Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, in addition to common law fraud. These causes of action are brought against Jeffrey S. Sunderman (“Sunderman”); Arthur Andersen & Company and A1 Hagemann (collectively “Andersen”); Linde, Thomson, Fairchild, Lang-worthy, Kohn & Van Dyke, P.C., Robert Thomson and Joseph Harter (collectively “Linde Thomson”), claiming that they were involved in fraudulently selling and/or providing accounting or legal services to the 121 limited partnerships in question.3 As Sunderman has never filed an answer in this litigation and Linde Thomson has settled with Plaintiffs, Arthur Andersen & Co. and A1 Hagemann are the only remaining defendants in this action.

II. CLASS ACTION CERTIFICATION

In order for a proposed class to be certified, the following prerequisites must be satisfied pursuant to Rule 23(a): (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

In addition, Plaintiffs must satisfy one of the elements of Rule 23(b). Here, Plaintiffs seek to certify a class under Rule 23(b)(3), which requires that the court find that “questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superi- or to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy.”

[551]*551At the outset, the Court notes that a district court has broad discretion in certifying and managing a class action. Montelongo v. Meese, 803 F.2d 1341, 1351 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1048, 107 S.Ct. 2179, 95 L.Ed.2d 835 (1987). Rule 23 is a remedial rule which should be construed liberally to permit class actions, especially in the context of securities fraud suits, where the class action device can prove effective in deterring illegal activity. Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F.2d 891, 903 (9th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 816, 97 S.Ct. 57, 50 L.Ed.2d 75 (1976); King v. Kansas City Southern Industries, Inc., 519 F.2d 20, 26 (7th Cir.1975); Simon v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 482 F.2d 880 (5th Cir.1973); Green v. Wolf Corp., 406 F.2d 291 (2d Cir.1968), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 977, 89 S.Ct. 2131, 23 L.Ed.2d 766 (1969); 5 Newburg on Class Actions § 8800 (1977). The Court’s inquiry on a class certification motion is limited to whether the requirements of Rule 23 have, been satisfied, and does not extend to whether plaintiff class representatives have successfully stated a cause of action or will prevail on the merits. See Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 178, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 2152, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974), quoting with approval, Miller v. Mackey International, Inc., 452 F.2d 424, 429 (5th Cir.1971). Thus, for purposes of certifying a class, the allegations found in the complaint must be taken as true. Blackie, 524 F.2d at 901, n. 17; Keasler v. Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, 84 F.R.D. 364, 365 (E.D.Tex.1979).

A. Numerosity

Plaintiffs allege in Paragraph 17 of the Class Action Complaint that there are approximately 4000 investors who purchased limited partnership interests in the Sunderman syndication. Andersen does not appear to challenge the certification of the class for lack of numerosity. The Court finds that the size of the proposed class is sufficiently great to make joinder of all members impractical. The numerosity requirement is therefore satisfied.

B. Commonality/Predominance

The second prerequisite of Rule 23(a) is the existence of questions of law or fact common to the class. If commonality is found, the Court must then determine under Rule 23(b)(3) whether common issues predominate over individual ones.

(1) Common Scheme

Plaintiffs maintain that the commonality and predominance requirements have been met because they have alleged a conspiracy and concerted scheme conducted by the Defendants, which overshadows any individual differences which might exist among class members’ claims.

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

Related

Stott v. Capital Financial Services, Inc.
277 F.R.D. 316 (N.D. Texas, 2011)
Morgan v. Coats
33 So. 3d 59 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Buettgen v. Harless
263 F.R.D. 378 (N.D. Texas, 2009)
In Re Enron Corp. Securities
529 F. Supp. 2d 644 (S.D. Texas, 2006)
Lehocky v. Tidel Technologies, Inc.
220 F.R.D. 491 (S.D. Texas, 2004)
Newby v. Enron Corp.
206 F.R.D. 427 (S.D. Texas, 2002)
Berger v. Compaq Computer Corp
279 F.3d 313 (Fifth Circuit, 2001)
Krogman v. Sterritt
202 F.R.D. 467 (N.D. Texas, 2001)
Wash. Mut. Bank v. Superior Court of Orange Cty.
15 P.3d 1071 (California Supreme Court, 2001)
Henry v. Cash Today, Inc.
199 F.R.D. 566 (S.D. Texas, 2000)
In Re Waste Management, Inc. Securities Litigation
128 F. Supp. 2d 401 (S.D. Texas, 2000)
Lobo Exploration Co. v. Amoco Production Co.
1999 OK CIV APP 112 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1999)
Young v. Nationwide Life Insurance
183 F.R.D. 502 (S.D. Texas, 1998)
Peoples v. American Fidelity Life Insurance
176 F.R.D. 637 (N.D. Florida, 1998)
Kalodner v. Michaels Stores, Inc.
172 F.R.D. 200 (N.D. Texas, 1997)
Collins v. International Dairy Queen, Inc.
168 F.R.D. 668 (M.D. Georgia, 1996)
Buford v. H & R Block, Inc.
168 F.R.D. 340 (S.D. Georgia, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 F.R.D. 547, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15020, 1988 WL 141363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/longden-v-sunderman-txnd-1988.