Lynch v. Vickers Energy Corp.

429 A.2d 497, 1981 Del. LEXIS 300
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedApril 3, 1981
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 429 A.2d 497 (Lynch v. Vickers Energy Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lynch v. Vickers Energy Corp., 429 A.2d 497, 1981 Del. LEXIS 300 (Del. 1981).

Opinions

DUFFY, Justice:

This is a class action on behalf of stockholders of TransOcean Oil, Inc. (Trans-Ocean) who sold their shares pursuant to a tender offer by the majority stockholder.1

[499]*499The pertinent facts appear in a prior opinion of this Court, Lynch v. Vickers Energy Corp., Del.Supr., 383 A.2d 278 (1977), and in two opinions by the Court of Chancery, 402 A.2d 5 (1979), and 351 A.2d 570 (1976), to which reference is made. We discuss the facts only as necessary for present purposes.

I

A majority of the issued and outstanding stock of TransOcean is held by defendant Vickers Energy Corporation (Vickers), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of defendant Esmark, Inc. (Esmark).2 Vickers had acquired through the tender offer, at $12 each, some 4,228,000 additional shares of TransOcean common.

In the prior appeal, we held that:
“Vickers, as the majority shareholder of TransOcean, owed a fiduciary duty to plaintiff which required ‘complete candor’ in disclosing fully ‘all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the’ tender offer.”

383 A.2d at 279. And we concluded that the tender offer made by Vickers to its fellow shareholders,

“failed to disclose fully two critical facts: (1) that a ‘highly qualified’ petroleum engineer ..., who was a member of Trans-Ocean’s management, had calculated the net asset value to be worth significantly more than the minimum amount disclosed in the offer; and (2) that Vickers’ management had authorized open market purchases of TransOcean’s stock during the period immediately preceding the $12 per share tender offer for bids up to $15 per share.”

383 A.2d at 280. We then remanded the case for further proceedings in the Court of Chancery consistent with our rulings.

After remand, trial was held on the remaining issues and the Court entered judgment for defendants. 402 A.2d 5 (1979). Plaintiff then docketed this appeal.

In his opinion, the Trial Judge considered several alternative measures of damages or formulas for relief and then, noting the absence of statutory guidelines, he concluded that:

“a proceeding analogous to an appraisal hearing such as is provided for in merger cases is appropriate here, Poole v. N. V. Deli Maa.tscha.ppij, supra [DebSupr., 224 A.2d 260 (1966)], in a situation in which active fraud has not been alleged or proved.”

402 A.2d at 11. The Court then weighed and applied the several factors relevant to fixing the “fair” or “proper” value of shares in a statutory appraisal proceeding, 8 Del.C. § 262. See, e. g., Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Francis I. duPont & Co., DeLSupr., 334 A.2d 216 (1975). Those factors are the value of the corporate assets, the market value of the stock and its earnings value. The Trial Judge then adjusted and summarized his findings of the value of each TransOcean share, as of the time of the tender offer, as follows:

“Asset value $ 17.50 x 40% $ 7.00

Market value $ 9.48 x 40% $ 3.80

Earnings value $ 5.25 x 20% $ 1.05

Total $ 11.85”

402 A.2d at 12.

Since members of the class had been paid $12 per share for the TransOcean stock which they sold to Vickers, the Court concluded that plaintiff had not been damaged by defendants’ failure to disclose the material facts, which was the basis of our reversal following the prior appeal. See 383 A.2d at 282.

In this Court, plaintiff argues that the Trial Judge erroneously interpreted and applied our decision on the first appeal; that uncontroverted trial testimony fixed the [500]*500value of the TransOcean shares to Esmark at up to $40 per share; that the Chancellor committed error in valuing and weighing TransOcean’s net assets; and that he erroneously refused to order rescission.

Defendants respond by saying, among other things, that the Court of Chancery used the correct standard in determining whether plaintiff had been damaged by the failure to disclose the material facts; that the Court correctly applied that standard to the evidence; that the members of the class had been overpaid for the TransOcean shares; that plaintiff must show injury in order to be entitled to a remedy; and that rescission would be unwarranted in any event.

II

As we see the controversy in context following our ruling on the first appeal, the issue remaining for decision is very narrow. In ultimate terms, it amounts to this: Is plaintiff entitled to relief and, if so, what is it to be?

The choice of relief to be accorded a prevailing plaintiff in equity is largely a matter of discretion with the Chancellor, 1 Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence (5 ed.) § 109, and Delaware, with its long history of common law equity jurisprudence, has followed that tradition. Cf. Wilmont Homes, Inc. v. Weiler, Del.Supr., 202 A.2d 576 (1964). Here, however, there is more to the appeal than merely testing for abuse of discretion. As we view it, the issue is not the manner in which the Court applied an agreed or undisputed measure of damages, but whether the Court followed a proper rule of law in deciding whether the members of plaintiffs class are entitled to relief.

We conclude that reversal is required because the Chancellor erroneously relied on the Poole case and on an appraisal formula (which has been developed in our case law under the Statute, 8 Del.C. § 262) in determining whether relief should be granted. In short, the case calls for a different rule of law on damages than the one which the Chancellor applied.

A.

In Poole, the question raised was the measure of damages to be applied in an action for inducing a sale of stock by fraudulent misrepresentation. While the corporate defendant in that case (like Vickers in this case) held more than 50% of the stock in the corporation whose shares were acquired from the plaintiffs, Poole was tried as a misrepresentation case in which the nature of the relief sought was significant and, as to that, this Court said:

“[Pjlaintiffs seek to recover the difference between the actual value of the stock and the price paid, known as the ‘out-of-pocket’ measure of damages

224 A.2d at 262. Indeed, the relief sought by plaintiffs was determinative because the Court, after noting other measures of damages, said:

“In any event, since the plaintiffs’ action is grounded upon the out-of-pocket measure of damages, that is the rule to be applied.”

224 A.2d at 262.

Clearly, then, Poole was pleaded and tried as a fraud case in which the Court limited plaintiffs to the out-of-pocket measure of damages on which they had gone to trial, 224 A.2d at 262, and then applied the general rule used in determining the “actual value of stock” involved in a fraud case.3 In so doing, the Court used a corporate “going concern” basis and rejected a claim that a “liquidation” basis was appropriate.

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Bluebook (online)
429 A.2d 497, 1981 Del. LEXIS 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lynch-v-vickers-energy-corp-del-1981.