McFarland v. Memorex Corp.

96 F.R.D. 357
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 17, 1982
DocketNos. C-79-2007-WAI(SJ), C-79-2926-WAI(SJ)
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 96 F.R.D. 357 (McFarland v. Memorex Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McFarland v. Memorex Corp., 96 F.R.D. 357 (N.D. Cal. 1982).

Opinion

[360]*360MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

INGRAM, District Judge.

This matter came before this Court on plaintiffs’ motions for certification of two classes, a plaintiff class and a defendant class, pursuant to Rules 23(a) and 23(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs bring this first motion to certify a class of all persons1 who purchased the common stock of Memorex Corporation from August 9, 1978 to October 31, 1978, pursuant to an alleged misleading registration statement and prospectus. They bring the second motion to certify a defendant class of underwriters, to be represented by defendants Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, Inc. (“Lehman”), and Blyth Eastman Dillon & Co., (“Blyth”), for the purpose of litigating the claims under Sections 11 and 12(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C., Sections 77k and 771(2)2

The Court has reviewed and considered all the arguments presented by the parties in their motion papers and at the two hearings that were held on this matter. On May 14, 1982, this Court filed a memorandum which listed certain tentative inclinations on some aspects of these motions. However, it is the ruling contained in the present memorandum which shall prevail in this matter.

While considerable briefing time and space has been devoted to the merits of this case, this Court has not, and will not consider here, those matters which pertain to the underlying controversy of the case. Such a consideration is inappropriate under the ruling of Eisen v. Carlisle and Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974).

Background

This case arose out of alleged misstatements and material omissions made by Memorex in its registration statement pursuant to the August 9, 1978 offering of common stock. The parties involved in this case are as follows: plaintiffs are Craig McFarland (as trustee of the Capital Growth Trust), and George and Janet Stuart (as trustees U/A November 2, 1976). McFarland purchased newly issued shares of Memorex common stock from Lehman Brothers.3 The Stuarts purchased newly issued shares from E.F. Hutton & Company, a potential member of the defendant underwriter class. The defendants in this case are Memorex Corporation, its executive officers and board of directors; underwriters Lehman and Blyth, in their individual capacities and as representatives of a defendant class of all underwriters who participated in the August 9, 1978 public offering of Memorex common stock; accountants Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (“Deloitte”), who performed accounting, auditing, and other services for Memorex and the selling warrant holders as described in the second amended complaint.

The second amended complaint is the operative pleading in this action. It sets forth causes of action based on alleged violations of Sections 10, 11, 12(2), 15 and 20 of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934; Sections 25401 and 25501 of the California Corporations Code; and on state law theories of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and professional malpractice. Also, according to the second amended complaint, plaintiffs were purchasers of newly issued Memorex common stock which was sold at the August 9 offering.4

[361]*361 Motion for plaintiff class certification

Rule 23(a) demands that the plaintiffs satisfy all of the following requirements before a class can be certified: (1) the class must be so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there must be questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties must be typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and, (4) the representative parties must fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. In addition, one of the elements of Rule 23(b) must be satisfied. 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 superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy.”

Each of these requirements will be discussed below. However, before these rules can be examined, there must be before the Court material sufficient to form a reasonable judgment on each of the above-listed requirements. Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F.2d 891, 900-01 (9th Cir.1975). Defendants have alleged that the second amended complaint is insufficient for such a determination. Defendants insist that the insufficiency arises because of discrepancies between the plaintiffs’ second amended complaint and the claims made in the memorandum of points and authorities in support of the motion for. class certification. This Court does not rule here on whether such a discrepancy exists. It may very well be that any additional facts in the plaintiffs’ moving papers are merely an attempt to provide evidence of the allegations in the second amended complaint. However, to delve into the issue at this juncture would amount to a consideration of the merits of the case, which is impermissible under Eisen v. Carlisle, supra. Such a determination would involve, inter alia, a decision as to whether the lease-finance transactions were part of the misstatements, and whether the prospectus did indeed contain a misstatement or an omission of a material fact. These issues should be left to the trier of fact.

However, this Court does not presume that the complaint conforms to the requirements of Rule 23. Specifically, this Court finds that there is a sufficient complaint before it because of the charging allegations found in the second amended complaint, and because those allegations must be taken as true for the purpose of a class certification motion. Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F.2d at n. 17.

Numerosity requirement

The requirement for numerosity is met because of the large number of purchasers of the newly issued Memorex stock.5 In addition, this Court notes that there was no opposition by defendants on this point.

Common question of law or fact

This Court finds that the common question of fact presented by the operative complaint is whether or not the defendants’ course of conduct is actionable. In their Section 10 and Rule 10b-5 claims, plaintiffs allege that defendants conspired to and recklessly did include financial and operational data in the registration statement which painted a false and misleading picture of Memorex’s financial condition. Plaintiffs’ further allege that the impairment of gross profit margins was, contrary to the registration statement, neither temporary nor insubstantial, and that their decision to buy Memorex stock would have been otherwise had the true facts been fully disclosed.

Defendants argue that plaintiffs must prove their individual reliance on the misinformation, and also must prove individual causation. However, this is not the [362]*362rule in this circuit. The Ninth Circuit has held, in Blackie v. Barrack, supra, and in Cameron v. E.M. Adams,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
96 F.R.D. 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcfarland-v-memorex-corp-cand-1982.