McCallum v. Rosen's Diversified, Inc.

41 F.3d 1239, 1994 WL 680382
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedDecember 6, 1994
DocketNo. 94-1278
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 41 F.3d 1239 (McCallum v. Rosen's Diversified, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCallum v. Rosen's Diversified, Inc., 41 F.3d 1239, 1994 WL 680382 (8th Cir. 1994).

Opinion

ROSS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Appellant William B. McCallum appeals from a district court decision concluding that his claim against Rosen’s Diversified, Inc. (RDI), in which he seeks a court-ordered [1240]*1240valuation and buyout of his stock in RDI under Minn.Stat. § 302A.751, is preempted by section 514 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). We reverse.

Rosen’s Diversified, Inc. is a closely held Minnesota corporation that owns several agri-business subsidiaries. RDI’s capital stock consists of 515,000 shares of common and preferred stock held by twelve individuals, including appellant. RDI stock is also held indirectly by 600 participants in the company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Appellant was employed by RDI from 1984 until 1992 when he was terminated. He served originally as executive vice president and chief executive officer. He later became a director and a trustee of the ESOP. Appellant owns 12,000 shares of RDI stock, which he received as compensation in 1986, as well as approximately 3,300 shares which he owns through the ESOP. Appellant alleges that in January of 1991 he refused to sign an audit of the company because it misrepresented RDI’s financial situation. According to appellant, the false audit would have been used to procure financing for the corporation in violation of federal law. Appellant was removed from his position as a board member and CEO in February 1991, allegedly as a result of his refusal to certify the audit results. He continued to receive his full salary of $100,000 per year until his employment was terminated in September, 1992.

From February to July, 1992, appellant and RDI negotiated for a buyout of his RDI shares. Appellant rejected an offer to purchase his stock based upon the most recent annual appraisal of the common stock by Dain Bosworth, Inc., asserting that the audit undervalued the company’s worth by 20 million dollars. Appellant then filed this action against RDI, its directors and the administrators of the ESOP (appellees), alleging ERISA claims and seeking, among other things, a court-ordered buyout of his RDI stock pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 302A.751. Appellant based this latter claim on appel-lees’ alleged fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud and wasting of corporate assets. Appellant requested that the court order RDI to purchase his shares at their fair market value as determined by the court. Appellant’s action before the district court requested a buyout of both his 12,000 shares owned individually and his 3,300 shares owned through the ESOP. On appeal, appellant now seeks only a buyout of the 12,000 shares he owns individually.

The district court granted appellees’ motion to dismiss and for summary judgment as to the ERISA claim. The court also dismissed appellant’s claim under Minn.Stat. § 302A.751 (section 751 claim), concluding that the claim for a court-ordered valuation and buyout of his RDI shares under state law is preempted by ERISA, a comprehensive statutory framework which governs the administration of private employee pension and benefits plans. Two other state law claims were dismissed without prejudice.

Section 514 of ERISA explicitly preempts state laws that “relate to” any ERISA plan:

Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of [ERISA] shall supersede any and all State laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan described in Section 1003(a) of this title....

29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). The United States Supreme Court has stated that ERISA’s preemption provision is “virtually unique” due to its extraordinary breadth. Franchise Tax Bd. v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 24 n. 26, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 2854 n. 26, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983). In Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 96-97, 103 S.Ct. 2890, 2899-2900, 77 L.Ed.2d 490 (1983), the Supreme Court stated that a “law ‘relates to’ an employee benefit plan, in the normal sense of the phrase, if it has a connection with or reference to such a plan.” Thus, not only are “state laws specifically designed to affect employee benefit plans,” preempted, id. at 98, 103 S.Ct. at 2900, but also any law that has any “connection with or reference to” the plan. Pilot Life Ins. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 47, 107 S.Ct. 1549, 1553, 95 L.Ed.2d 39 (1987); Shaw, 463 U.S. at 96-97, 103 S.Ct. at 2899-2900. Notwithstanding the stated breadth of the statute, [1241]*1241however, “ERISA leaves room for complimentary or dual federal and state regulation,” and only “calls for federal supremacy when the two regimes cannot be harmonized or accommodated.” John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank, -U.S.-,-, 114 S.Ct. 517, 525, 126 L.Ed.2d 524 (1993). In fact, the Supreme Court has indicated that “[s]ome state actions may affect employee benefit plans in too tenuous, remote, or peripheral a manner to warrant a finding that the law ‘relates to’ the plan.” Shaw, 463 U.S. at 100 n. 21, 103 S.Ct. at 2901 n. 21; see also Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield v. St. Mary’s Hosp., 947 F.2d 1341, 1344 (8th Cir.1991).

With this legal framework in mind, we turn to the state statute at issue in the present case. Minn.Stat. § 302A.751 provides that a court may order a corporate dissolution, buyout or other equitable relief when:

[T]hose in control of the corporation have acted fraudulently, illegally, or in a manner unfairly prejudicial toward one or more shareholders in their capacities as shareholders, directors, or officers, or as employees of a closely held corporation.

Minn.Stat. § 302A.751(l)(b)(2). A court may also order such equitable relief when corporate assets are misapplied or wasted. Id. at § 302A.751(l)(b)(4). This statute creates a two-step process. The court must first determine whether the actionable conduct has occurred and is sufficient to entitle the shareholder to relief. After such a finding is made, the court may compel a buyout of the shareholder’s shares at fair value. Absent an agreement between the shareholder and the corporation as to the fair value of the shares, section 751 instructs the court to determine the fair value of those shares. The grant of authority to the court in determining the fair value of the shares is absolute; it may employ any method “in its discretion [which it] sees fit to use, whether or not used by the corporation,” Minn.Stat. § 302A.473(7).

Appellant does not dispute that section 751 is a state law and that the ESOP is an employee pension plan within the meaning of ERISA. The sole issue for determination, therefore, is whether appellant’s claim for an appraisal and buyout of his RDI shares pursuant to section 751 “relates to” the ESOP and the ERISA-mandated valuations of RDI’s shares so as to preempt appellant’s claim.

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Related

McCALLUM v. ROSEN'S DIVERSIFIED, INC.
41 F.3d 1239 (Eighth Circuit, 1994)

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41 F.3d 1239, 1994 WL 680382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccallum-v-rosens-diversified-inc-ca8-1994.