McGann v. Ernst & Young

102 F.3d 390, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14455, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8744, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 31149, 1996 WL 722838
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 9, 1996
DocketNos. 95-55925
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 102 F.3d 390 (McGann v. Ernst & Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGann v. Ernst & Young, 102 F.3d 390, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14455, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8744, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 31149, 1996 WL 722838 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinion

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff securities investors appeal the grant of judgment on the pleadings for defendant Ernst & Young (“E&Y’), an independent accounting firm. Plaintiffs alleged that E&Y incurred primary liability under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”) by preparing a fraudulent audit report that it knew would be included by its chent in a Form 10-K. This case requires us to decide whether the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Central Bank of Denver, N.A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A, 511 U.S. 164, 114 S.Ct. 1439, 128 L.Ed.2d 119 (1994), overturned the traditional interpretation of § 10(b) first set forth in SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co., 401 F.2d 833 (2nd Cir.1968) (en banc), cert. denied sub nom. Coates v. SEC, 394 U.S. 976, 89 S.Ct. 1454, 22 L.Ed.2d 756 (1969). We have jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse.

I. FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

At all relevant times, E&Y was the outside auditor for the Community Psychiatric Centers (“CPC”), a publicly traded corporation. Plaintiffs alleged the following facts: E&Y issued a false and misleading audit opinion regarding CPC’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending in November 1990. Specifically, E&Y failed to disclose the fact that CPC had a major accounts receivable problem. E&Y knew that CPC would include this audit opinion in its annual Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The suppression of this information caused the artificial inflation of the price of CPC’s stock. In September and November 1991, when CPC announced a major drop in earnings due to $37 million in uncollectible debts, the value of CPC’s stock declined precipitously.

In June 1993, plaintiffs filed this action against E&Y.1 Plaintiffs are a class of persons who purchased CPC stock between the time of the publication of E&Y’s audit opinion and the time of CPC’s announcement regarding bad debts. Plaintiffs alleged that by producing a fraudulent audit report with the knowledge that its client would disseminate the statements therein to the securities market, E&Y committed fraudulent acts “in connection with” the trading of securities, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and thus violated § 10(b). Plaintiffs claimed that E&Y was both a primary violator of § 10(b), and a secondary violator as a conspirator with and an aider and abettor to CPC.

In May 1995, the district court granted E&Y’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). The court held that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Central Bank squarely rejected aider and abettor liability under § 10(b). The court also held that Central Bank implicitly rejected conspirator liability.2 The plaintiffs appeal neither of these holdings.

The district court then dismissed the plaintiffs’ primary liability claim, holding that an independent accounting firm does not act “in connection "with” securities trading when it produces a fraudulent audit report that it knows its client will include in a Form 10-K. The court noted the contrary authority of the Second Circuit’s Texas Gulf and the Ninth Circuit’s Wessel v. Buhler, 437 F.2d 279 (9th Cir.1971), but concluded that the these deci[392]*392sions were inconsistent with Central Bank. Specifically, the court reasoned that while Central Bank rested on the text of § 10(b), Texas Gulf and Wessel improperly rested on underlying congressional goals. The plaintiffs appeal the district court’s primary liability holding.

II. DISCUSSION

This case presents two overlapping questions: First, did Central Bank undermine Texas Gulf and its progeny? Second, is an accounting firm subject to primary liability under § 10(b) when it prepares a fraudulent audit report that it knows its client will include in a Form 10-K? We answer the first question in the negative, and the second question in the affirmative.

A. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c). Merchants Home Delivery Service, Inc. v. Hall & Co., 50 F.3d 1486, 1488 (9th Cir.) (citation omitted), cert. denied sub nom. Prometheus Funding Corp. v. Merchants Home Delivery Services, Inc., — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 418, 133 L.Ed.2d 335 (1995). A judgment on the pleadings is properly granted when, taking all allegations in the pleading as true, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. We also review questions of law de novo. Twenty-Three Nineteen Creekside, Inc. v. Commissioner, 59 F.3d 130, 131 (9th Cir.1995).

B. THE TRADITIONAL VIEW: TEXAS GULF

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regulates the post-distribution trading of securities. See 15 U.S.C. § 78a et seq. The “ ‘fundamental purpose’ ” of the Act was “ ‘to substitute a philosophy of full disclosure for the philosophy of caveat emptor.’ Central Bank, 511 U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1445 (quoting Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States, 406 U.S. 128, 151, 92 S.Ct. 1456, 1471, 31 L.Ed.2d 741 (1972)). Section 10(b) of the Act prohibits fraudulent activities “in connection with” the purchase or sale of securities,3 as does SEC Rule 10b-5.4

In Texas Gulf, the Second Circuit held that false and misleading assertions are made “in connection with” securities trading “whenever [such] assertions are made ... in a manner reasonably calculated to influence the investing public_” 401 F.2d at 862. Specifically, the court held that company officers violated Rule 10b-5 by issuing a misleading press release regarding the company’s successful oil exploration activities. The court further held that the prohibition of Rule 10b-5 applies whether or not “the makers of a misleading statement also participated in pertinent securities transactions in connection therewith_” Id. at 860. See also Heit v. Weitzen, 402 F.2d 909 (2nd Cir.1968) (applying Texas Gulf to fraudulent annual reports, “as well as documents filed by the individual defendants with the SEC”), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 903, 89 S.Ct. 1740, 23 L.Ed.2d 217 (1969).

[393]*393The Ninth Circuit adopted the Second Circuit’s formulation. In Wessel, the Ninth Circuit held that “ ‘Rule 10b-5 is violated whenever assertions are made ... in a manner reasonably calculated to influence the investing public 437 F.2d at 282 (quoting Texas Gulf, 401 F.2d at 862).

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102 F.3d 390, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14455, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8744, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 31149, 1996 WL 722838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgann-v-ernst-young-ca9-1996.