Morgan v. Prudential Group, Inc.

81 F.R.D. 418, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7226
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 15, 1978
DocketNo. 75 Civ. 5245
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 81 F.R.D. 418 (Morgan v. Prudential Group, Inc.) 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
Morgan v. Prudential Group, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 418, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7226 (S.D.N.Y. 1978).

Opinion

LASKER, District Judge.

In May, 1972, Henry Morgan purchased a limited partnership interest in the Plaza One Development Fund, one of five limited partnerships (referred to collectively as the 1972 Programs) created by Prudential Funds, Inc. (now Prudential Group, Inc.), and offered and sold to the public by Prudential Ventures Corp., a registered broker-dealer wholly owned by Prudential Funds, Inc., in 1972. The partnerships were to engage in oil and gas development and production, and were promoted as “tax shelters” for persons with high income. In 1975, the limited partnerships were dissolved, and Henry Morgan lost 80% of his investment. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service disallowed the tax deductions that Morgan had claimed ,on account of his investment in the 1972 Programs.

Alleging violations of sections 10(b), 14(e), and 15(c)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b), 78n(e), 78o (c)(1) (1976), and Securities and Exchange Commission rules 10b-5 and 15cl — 2, 17 C.F.R. §§ 240. 10b-5, .15cl-2 (1978), Morgan sues Prudential Group, Inc. and its principal officers and directors, and Prudential Ventures, Corp. (the Prudential Defendants), as principals, and Theodore Bartling, Bartling & Associates, Inc., Price Waterhouse & Co., Palmer, Series & Baar, Caplin & Drysdale, and Mortimer Caplin (who is also sued as a director of Prudential Group, Inc.) as aiders and abettors. All of the defendants move to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it fails to state “the circumstances constituting fraud” with particularity as required by Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In addition, Mortimer Caplin and his firm, Caplin & Drysdale, move for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them, and for an award of costs and attorneys’ fees as a sanction under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Morgan's principal claim is that in unspecified “selling documents” disseminated to the public, the Prudential Defendants, aided and abetted by the other defendants, knowingly or recklessly misrepresented the potential tax benefits of investment in the 1972 Programs. According to Morgan, the selling documents represented that the 1972 Programs would engage in “back end leveraging,” which they touted, rather than “front end leveraging,” which they criticized. It was contemplated that the 1972 Programs would borrow funds on a nonrec-ourse basis from independent third parties and use them tb prepay intangible drilling and development expenses. If the loans were secured by proven and developed oil [422]*422and gas reserves, and only if they were so secured, the limited partners could increase their basis in their investment by their pro rata share of the loans, and deduct the stepped up basis in the year in which the expenses were prepaid. This is back end leveraging. If the loans were secured by undeveloped properties (front end leveraging), the Internal Revenue Service would not consider them bona fide and would not allow the limited partners to step up their basis and so claim tax deductions greater than their actual investment in the 1972 Programs. Morgan alleges that despite these representations in the selling documents, the defendants knew that the 1972 Programs would not engage in back end leveraging.1

An earlier complaint in this litigation contained no allegations “that the Prudential Defendants knew or recklessly failed to discover that their promises were false at the time they made them.” Morgan v. Prudential Funds, Inc., 446 F.Supp. 628, 632 (S.D.N.Y.1978). Because “[t]he absence of a scienter allegation [in the earlier complaint] destroyed] the claim of principal fraud and so, undermine[d] a basis for the imposition of secondary, aiding-abetting liability,” id., (citation omitted), the earlier complaint was dismissed without prejudice to filing an amended complaint within sixty days, id. at 633. The present motions are addressed to the complaint filed by Morgan in response to that dismissal.

I.

Motion by All Defendants to Dismiss under Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that “[i]n all averments [423]*423of fraud or mistake, the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake shall be stated with particularity.” By requiring a party charging another with fraud to flesh out the charge in the complaint, Rule 9(b) protects defendants from irresponsible allegations of wrongdoing, discourages the filing of complaints designed to find wrongs rather than to redress them, and guarantees that “defendants are given notice of the exact nature of the fraud claimed, sufficient to permit responsive measures.” Todd v. Oppenheimer & Co., 78 F.R.D. 415, 419 (S.D.N.Y.1978); see Segal v. Gordon, 467 F.2d 602, 607-08 (2d Cir. 1972); Gross v. Diversified Mortgage Investors, 431 F.Supp. 1080, 1087 (S.D.N.Y.1977); Rich v. Touche Ross & Co., 68 F.R.D. 243, 245 (S.D.N.Y.1975).

The defendants argue that Morgan’s complaint fails to satisfy the requirements of Rule 9(b) in three ways: first, it does not specify the documents alleged to contain misrepresentations and fails to identify the statements alleged to be false; second, it does not state the basis for Morgan’s belief regarding allegations pleaded on “information and belief”; and third, it does not detail the nature or scope of the assistance rendered the Prudential defendants by the aider and abettor defendants in the perpetration of the alleged fraud.

A. Identification of False Statements

The complaint describes in some detail the substance of the statements supposedly contained in the “selling documents,” and the way in which those statements were false or misleading. In this regard, the complaint is adequate. However, neither the actual statements nor' the documents purportedly containing them are identified, and “[t]he law does not excuse plaintiff’s failure to identify the offending publications.” Denny v. Barber, 73 F.R.D. 6, 9 (S.D.N.Y.1976), aff’d, 576 F.2d 465 (2d Cir. 1978); accord, Gross v. Diversified Mortgage Investors, 431 F.Supp. 1080, 1087 (S.D.N.Y.1977); Rich v. Touche Ross & Co., 68 F.R.D. 243, 246 (S.D.N.Y.1975); see Felton v. Walston & Co., 508 F.2d 577, 581 (2d Cir. 1974).2 This, however, is the least of the complaint’s deficiencies.

B. Allegations Made on “Information and Belief’’

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Bluebook (online)
81 F.R.D. 418, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-prudential-group-inc-nysd-1978.