Milstein v. Werner

58 F.R.D. 544, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 6, 1973
DocketNos. 70 Civ. 2178 (MP), 70 Civ. 5420
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 58 F.R.D. 544 (Milstein v. Werner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Milstein v. Werner, 58 F.R.D. 544, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654 (S.D.N.Y. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

POLLACK, District Judge.

The plaintiffs in a consolidated shareholders’ derivative suit brought on behalf of GAF Corporation have applied for allowance of compensation to their attorneys herein. The underlying suit was terminated by a comprehensive and conscientiously negotiated settlement, submitted to this Court on September 22, 1972 and approved as submitted on December 18, 1972, following adequate notice to all shareholders and a full hearing on objections held November 17, 1972.

The Court also has received a fee application from a non-attorney shareholder who appeared and participated in the questioning at the November 17, 1972 hearing. Another objecting shareholder who was represented by counsel at the November 17 hearing had initially filed for an allowance of compensation to his attorney. This application has since been withdrawn, following a proposed arrangement made with plaintiffs’ counsel — which the Court is now asked to approve — by which the allowance to plaintiffs’ counsel will be shared with those attorneys who appeared for the objector in question at the hearing on the settlement. The Court ordered a hearing, which was held on March 2, 1973, to ascertain the relevant facts and circumstances of this proposed arrangement.

The allegations of the original complaint (as amended), the progress of discovery, the terms of settlement, and the merits of all objections have been fully considered in this Court’s opinion of December 13, 1972. 57 F.R.D. 515 (1972). For present purposes, it is necessary only to analyze the benefits of the litigation and settlement to the corporation and to evaluate with some precision the contributions of the attorneys. See Derdiarian v. Futterman Corp., 254 F.Supp. 617 (S.D.N.Y.1966).

[547]*547I. Application of Plaintiffs

A. Benefits of the Litigation and the Settlement

The thrust of this derivative suit, brought against officers and directors of GAF, was that inside officials of GAF, particularly the chief executive officer, exerted inordinate control over the operation of the corporation and that, as a result, executive employees were excessively compensated. Plaintiffs contend that as they pressed their suit, GAF responsively pushed for reform. Specifically, plaintiffs note that information given to outside directors was expanded to match the insiders’ briefings that certain purportedly unprofitable operations were reduced or closed, that corporate management and accounting procedures were improved, and that the composition of the GAF Board of Directors was changed to insure more independent directors. These salient changes, to plaintiffs, were causally related to the pendency of their suit.

The primary, direct benefit secured by the settlement is an alteration in the Plan for the Sale of Restricted and Unrestricted Stock to Employees Who Perform Executive, Supervisory and Administrative Functions (hereinafter “Stock Purchase Plan”). As originally adopted and instituted, the Stock Purchase Plan had allowed select employees of GAF to purchase shares of the corporation’s stock at 20% of the prevailing market price. Additionally, loans from the corporation were provided to cover the purchase price. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, the Stock Purchase Plan is modified so that the minimum purchase price for stock will be 50% of the last closing price of GAF common stock on the New York Stock Exchange at the time of the purchase.

Plaintiffs contend that this modification will result ultimately in an additional consideration to GAF of at least $3,297,600 and, using GAF’s own calculations, in increased gross and after-tax net income of $4,793,393 and $2,492,590, respectively. Such objective projections, to be sure, rest on subjective assumptions, and plaintiffs have provided the string of variables. Most important are the assumptions that 458,000 shares remaining in the Stock Purchase Plan will be sold and that the market price of GAF stock will remain at least at the level of $24 a share prevailing at the time of the settlement. The market price of the stock has since receded and is now about $15%. The plaintiffs derive the figure for the prospective benefit by multiplying the difference in the new discount rate (30%) by the assumed market price ($24.) and by the number of shares to be sold (458,000). Moreover, plaintiffs’ assumptions presuppose certain facts about the future course of the national economy and of GAF’s performance, about executive changes at GAF, and about the administration of the Stock Purchase Plan.

It is undoubtedly true that the modification of the Stock Purchase Plan will produce some substantial monetary benefit for the corporation. Any shares of stock sold under the Plan, irrespective of the market price, will bring a higher consideration than would have been paid before the change was made in the Plan discount factor. Nevertheless, the precise dollar figure for this benefit is less easily predicted. The sale of the shares remaining under the Plan is to be accomplished over several years, perhaps as many as twelve. It is necessary to assume that plaintiffs’ set of suppositions will prevail during that entire period of sale in order to confidently conclude that the projected benefit will actually be realized. Even then, the benefit will be received over time, and some adjustment for present value would seem appropriate. Suffice it to say that the $3,297 million figure is recognized as a projection, rather than as an imminent certainty.

[548]*548B. Contribution of Plaintiffs’ Courts sel

This Court has, on several occasions, noted the perseverance that runs through the history of this suit. From the preparation of the pleadings through the signing of the settlement, plaintiffs’ counsel prosecuted the suit with skill and vigor and, as the Court found at the November 17, 1972 hearing, achieved “a bonanza result in an excessive compensation case.”

An affidavit filed on behalf of plaintiff Milstein chronicles the hours and the effort invested by counsel in order to achieve this successful result. The role of counsel began almost three years ago, when plaintiff Milstein asked his lawyers to evaluate the bringing of a derivative action on behalf of GAF. This evaluation required a study of GAF financial reports, as well as of much published or available material about GAF. Counsel attended the annual shareholders meeting in 1970, in order to glean some first hand impressions on the GAF management performance.

Based upon this evaluation, plaintiff Milstein decided to launch this derivative suit, and counsel prepared and filed a 27-page pleading. Once the action was formally initiated, this Court soon became aware of the pending suit and was able to directly observe much of the pretrial proceedings. These proceedings included extensive discovery, which ultimately produced over 14,500 pages of numbered documents, 1,700 pages of deposition transcripts, and over 65 pages of answers to interrogatories. Each page and each document had to be studied and categorized as counsel prepared for trial.

Moreover, plaintiff had to face and fight a very active and highly skilled defense. Initially, defendants served a set of affirmative answers and counterclaims, which plaintiff subsequently moved to dismiss. That motion required the preparation of a brief and reply brief, running an aggregate of some 60 pages.

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58 F.R.D. 544, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/milstein-v-werner-nysd-1973.