Metge v. Baehler

77 F.R.D. 470, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1290
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedJanuary 19, 1978
DocketCiv. No. 76-213-1
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 77 F.R.D. 470 (Metge v. Baehler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metge v. Baehler, 77 F.R.D. 470, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1290 (S.D. Iowa 1978).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

STUART, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs’ motion for class action certification came on for hearing before this Court on November 22, 1977, at 9:30 a. m. Appearing for plaintiffs were Messrs. Roger Ferris, Gerald Newbrough, F. L. Burnette, II, Richard J. Sapp, and Robert Van Orsdel. Arguing on behalf of the various defendants were Messrs. C. Carleton Frederici, Robert B. Seism, Ned Stockdale, Bennett Webster, and John G. Black. Having heard the oral arguments of counsel and examined the briefs and exhibits submitted, the Court now finds that plaintiffs’ motion should be granted.

The. Court would note that certain evidence which might be relevant to plaintiffs’ and potential class members’ substantive claims or the defenses thereto has been offered and received solely as it relates to the pending Rule 23 motion. Any reference to factual findings contained herein is for the limited purpose of Rule 23 issues and such findings are not binding on the parties or the proposed class in connection with their substantive claims or defenses. The present class action determination is not intended to indicate that the Court has any opinion regarding the merits of said claims or defenses.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The instant law suit arises out of the financial demise of Investors Mortgage & Finance Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Investors Equity, Inc., formerly known as Investors Equity of Iowa. Investors Mortgage & Finance Co. began selling securities known as “Thrift Certificates” to the general public within the State of Iowa in the spring of 1969. The first purchase was made on April 1, 1970, with most of the proceeds derived from subsequent sales transferred back to the parent corporation. Some of these proceeds were allegedly used either to (1) make payments to creditors of Investors Equity and/or its affiliates; (2) pay interest on and redeem other thrift certificates; or (3) finance highly speculative recreational real estate development ventures — all unbeknownst to certificate purchasers. The financial condition of the now defunct Investors Mortgage and Investors Equity deteriorated to the point that sales of thrift certificates were halted on May 10, 1974 (the last actual sale having been made on May 1,1974) with bankruptcy following sometime thereafter.

The named plaintiffs, August Metge and Elizabeth B. Shepard, filed this action on June 30, 1976, alleging violations of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission and numerous related state claims, including violation of Iowa Code § 502.6 (failure to register with the Securities Department of the State of Iowa); violation of § 713.24(2)(a) (false advertising); and common law fraud. Mr. Metge purchased a thrift certificate in the amount of $3,000, on or about July 3,1973. Mrs. Shepard is the executrix of the estate of Helen Clark. Miss Clark purchased a $1,000 thrift certificate on or about October 22,1973 and a $4,000 thrift certificate on or about November 15, 1973. Due to the insolvency of Investors Mortgage and Investors Equity, neither the face value nor the accrued interest on the outstanding certificates have been paid and they are now virtually worthless. Named plaintiffs allege there are 635 other individuals or successors-in-interest presently holding similarly unredeemed thrift certificates with a total face value of approximately $1,492,440.87. They comprise the proposed plaintiff class sought to be represented in this action pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3).

[473]*473Plaintiffs’ complaint is directed against some nineteen (19) individual defendants who were all, for varying lengths of time throughout the class period, associated with Investors Equity and/or Investors Mortgage either as directors or corporate officers. Bankers Trust Company, the lone corporate defendant, made loans to Investors Equity, the parent corporation, from time to time throughout the class period. Plaintiffs claim that each defendant is implicated herein as a participant, aider-and-abettor, and/or co-conspirator in the alleged bail-out scheme and common course of conduct undertaken to defraud the plaintiff class. Bankers Trust allegedly involved itself by willingly and knowingly accepting money obtained in violation of Rule 10b-5 in order to reduce its outstanding loan balance.

The essence of the plaintiffs’ § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 class claims, as the Court understands it, is that the class was attracted to Investors Mortgage thrift certificates by one or more of a series of ads, which began running on June 27, 1970, primarily in the Des Moines Register. The principal promotional device utilized by Investors, these ads promised a high interest rate and stated, in substantially similar language, that the certificates were “unconditionally guaranteed” or “guaranteed” by the parent company, Investors Equity. The ads also represented that loans made by the company were either secured by real estate or that the proceeds therefrom were invested in real estate loans and development.

The gravamen of plaintiffs’ complaint is that defendants failed to disclose certain critical details with a material bearing on the statements made in addition to making a number of overt misrepresentations. In other words, in order for the statement that the certificates were guaranteed by the parent company not to be misleading, the plaintiff class should also have been told of: (1) the highly speculative nature of the company’s investments; (2) the true uses to which the proceeds were being put (i. e., uses other than real estate loans and development); (3) the true nature of Investors Mortgage and Investors Equity’s business (i. e., recreational real estate development); and (4) the true financial condition of the companies. Plaintiffs allege Investors Equity and its subsidiaries were operating at a loss and were either on the brink of insolvency or insolvent throughout the class period. Furthermore, plaintiffs claim that the statements regarding real estate as security or investments were either misleading or constituted misrepresentations when the four material facts set out above were omitted.

Class members purchased certificates in several different ways: (1) on the basis of the ads alone; (2) on the basis of an ad and oral communications; (3) upon an ad and written form letters supplied in response to an inquiry; (4) in response to an ad and individualized written responses; or (5) based upon a combination of (2), (3), and (4). The plaintiffs’ principal contention seems to be, not that additional misrepresentations were made in the contacts following the ads, but, rather, that none of the contacts with company officers and directors — regardless of their nature — did anything to supply the material facts necessary to make the statements appearing in the ads, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

Defendants take issue with plaintiffs’ factual recitation, resisting what they apparently view as erroneous blanket assertions of wrongdoing over the entire proposed class period. They primarily argue that Investors Equity and its subsidiary, Investors Mortgage, were solvent and profitable at least through fiscal year 1970, as indicated by the companies’ consolidated annual reports.

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Bluebook (online)
77 F.R.D. 470, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metge-v-baehler-iasd-1978.