Morrow v. Schapiro

334 F. Supp. 399
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedOctober 14, 1971
Docket71 C 140(3)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 334 F. Supp. 399 (Morrow v. Schapiro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrow v. Schapiro, 334 F. Supp. 399 (E.D. Mo. 1971).

Opinion

334 F.Supp. 399 (1971)

Joseph H. MORROW, Jr., Plaintiff,
v.
Edward D. SCHAPIRO
and
Allen J. Portnoy, Defendants.

No. 71 C 140(3).

United States District Court, E. D. Missouri, E. D.

October 14, 1971.

*400 Richard L. Ross, Slonim & Ross, Clayton, Mo., for plaintiff.

Martin M. Green, Clayton, Mo., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WEBSTER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on motion of defendants to dismiss plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a claim against either defendant upon which relief may be granted. Plaintiff relies for jurisdiction upon 15 U.S.C. § 78aa, which is Section 27 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For purposes of the motion, all well pleaded allegations of fact will be taken as true.

The complaint is in two counts. Count I alleges that plaintiff acquired 18,615 shares of Permaneer Corporation, which is listed and traded on the American Stock Exchange. Defendants Schapiro and Portnoy are Chairman of the Board and President respectively of Permaneer Corporation and are major stockholders of said corporation. Plaintiff alleges that he consulted with defendants and that he relied upon their advice in determining not only to make the purchase of the stock in early 1969, but when and how to close out his transactions therein by selling it. He alleges that defendants knowingly and willfully misrepresented the condition of the company to him in order to dissuade him from selling his stock at a time when such sale would have had an adverse effect upon defendants' own investment strategy. Plaintiff alleges that he paid $582,620 for his stock; that he could have sold the shares for approximately $700,000 and would have done so but for the representations of defendants; and that at the time of the filing the lawsuit the shares had diminished in value to $56,000. Plaintiff does not allege that he has sold any stock as a result of such misrepresentations.

Count II is a restatement of the allegations contained in Count I with additional allegations intended to state a claim in common law fraud. Jurisdiction for Count II is founded upon principles of pendent jurisdiction, Hurn v. Oursler, 289 U.S. 238, 53 S.Ct. 586, 77 L.Ed. 1148, and if no claim is stated under Count I, Count II, should be likewise dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Vanderboom v. Sexton, 422 F.2d 1233 (8th Cir. 1970); United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966).

Count I alleges damages for violation of Rule 10b-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission, adopted pursuant to Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. Rule 10b-5 provides as follows:

"Rule 10b-5. Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Devices.
It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange,
(1) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(2) to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or
(3) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security." (Emphasis added)

Defendants contend that the misrepresentations as alleged in the complaint, even if made, were not made "in connection with the purchase or sale of any security", relying upon Birnbaum v. Newport Steel Corp., 193 F.2d 461 (2d Cir. 1952). In reviewing the history of Rule 10b-5, the court in Birnbaum observed that prior to the adoption of the Rule only purchasers and not sellers of securities were protected against fraud in the purchase and sale of securities. (Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of *401 1933, 15 U.S.C.A. § 77q(a)). A comparison between Rule 10b-5 and Section 17(a) shows that the two are identical except for the substitution of "any person" for "the purchaser" in the Rule and the addition therein of the final clause "in connection with the purchase or sale of any security". The court in Birnbaum refused to extend the application of the Rule to mismanagement, which, in that case, was the rejection of a favorable merger offer and the subsequent sale by the corporate president of his own stock at a premium. The court held that Rule 10b-5 "extended protection only to the defrauded purchaser or seller." 193 F. 2d 461, 464.

Plaintiff purchased his stock from an independent broker. Plaintiff here would avoid the thrust of Birnbaum by urging that the misrepresentations, applying both to the original purchase and continuing thereafter were part of a continuing plan affecting his own continuing investment program. With some skill, plaintiff argues that the protection of 10b-5 should extend to stockholders who, although not sellers of securities, could somehow tack the misrepresentations to the original purchase, thereby making the misrepresentations "in connection with the purchase * * * of any security." But as defendants correctly observe, the complaint on its face shows that the investment was, at least initially, a profitable one. The stock increased in value from an original cost of $582,620 to $700,000. Even assuming that the misrepresentations were made and that plaintiff relied upon them in connection with the purchase of the securities, no damage can be shown as a result of such purchases. We must therefore consider the effect of subsequent occurrences independently of the original purchase. In other words, plaintiff must show the prohibited acts occurred in connection with a sale of a security.

The courts have repeatedly held that one who retains his stock cannot bring himself under the provisions of Section 10(b); he must be a defrauded "seller" to qualify. Greenstein v. Paul, 400 F.2d 580 (2d Cir. 1968); Herpich v. Wallace, 430 F.2d 792 (5th Cir. 1970); Cooper v. Garza, 431 F.2d 578 (5th Cir. 1970); Keers and Company v. American Steel and Pump Corporation, 234 F.Supp. 201 (S.D.N.Y.1964).

Attention has been drawn to exceptions under mitigating circumstances to the rule announced in Birnbaum. See Vine v. Beneficial Finance Co., 374 F.2d 627 (2d Cir. 1967) (10b-5 held applicable to merger situation in which the plaintiff was deemed an involuntary seller); Crane Company v. Westinghouse Air Brake Company, 419 F.2d 787 (2d Cir. 1969) (tender offer frustrated by defendant; market manipulation entitled to standing); Commerce Reporting Co. v. Puretec, Inc., 290 F.Supp. 715 (S.D.N.Y.

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Bluebook (online)
334 F. Supp. 399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrow-v-schapiro-moed-1971.