National Western Life Insurance v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.

89 F. App'x 287
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2004
DocketDocket No. 02-9004
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 89 F. App'x 287 (National Western Life Insurance v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Western Life Insurance v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 89 F. App'x 287 (2d Cir. 2004).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

I. Choice of Law

Because this is a diversity case, the forum state’s choice of law rules govern. Krauss v. Manhattan Life Ins. Co., 643 F.2d 98, 100 (2d Cir.1981). Under New York conflict of law principles, fraud claims are governed by the state in which the injury is deemed to have occurred, which is usually where the plaintiff is located, Sack v. Low, 478 F.2d 360, 366 (2d Cir.1973) (Friendly, J.), in this case, Texas.

II. Valuation of the Cooperative (Claims Dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6))

The district court granted Merrill Lynch’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss National Western’s claims of violations of the Texas Securities Act (“TSA”) and common-law fraud based on Merrill Lynch’s alleged misvaluation of the cooperative property in issue (the “Property”). Nat’l Western Life Ins. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 112 F.Supp.2d 292, 314 (2000) (“AW I”). Our review is de novo. See, e.g., Scutti Enterprises LLC v. Park Place Entertainment Corp., 322 F.3d 211, 214 (2d Cir.2003).

[289]*289A. Valuation of the Property Under the Texas Securities Act

The district court dismissed National Western’s claim that the property valuation was misleading under the TSA for three reasons: (1) “the number of irreconcilable internal conflicts” in National Western’s theory, AW I, 112 F.Supp.2d at 308; (2) the information about the valuations given by Merrill Lynch to National Western was not false and misleading “in the particular manner claimed”, id. at 309; and (3) the claim was time-barred under the statute of limitations, id. at 321.

Article 581-33(A)(2) of the TSA provides that “[a] person who offers or sells a security ... by means of an untrue statement of a material fact or an omission to state a material fact ... is liable to the person buying the security from him.” The TSA continues, however, that “a person is not liable if he sustains the burden of proof that either (a) the buyer knew of the untruth of omission or (b) he (the offeror or seller) did not know, and in the exercise of reasonable care could not have known, of the untruth or omission.” Under the TSA, there is no requirement that the plaintiff have relied justifiably on the representation or omission; the falsity or omission need only have been uttered or made. See Haralson v. EF Hutton Group, 919 F.2d 1014 (5th Cir.1990), abrogated on other grounds, Lewis v. Fresne, 252 F.3d 352, 358 (5th Cir.2001).

1. Inconsistent Pleadings

The district court concluded that National Western’s allegations relating to Merrill Lynch’s misleading valuation of the property were fatally “internally at odds.” AW I, 112 F.Supp.2d at 307. The contradiction, according to the court, is that National Western claims to have relied to its detriment on a misleading appraisal of the Property (the “Appraisal”) prepared for Merrill Lynch while simultaneously claiming that the Appraisal was omitted from the materials given to it by Merrill Lynch, and that the omission was misleading. Id. Based on this inconsistency, the district court granted Merrill Lynch’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion on this TSA claim.

But Rule 8(e)(2) specifically permits inconsistent pleadings such as those contained in National Western’s complaint. See also 3 Moore’s Federal Practice § 8.09[2], It is permissible for National Western to make conflicting assertions — it didn’t receive the Appraisal, but if it did, the Appraisal was misleading. See Adler v. Pataki, 185 F.3d 35 (2d Cir.1999); Henry v. Daytop Village, Inc., 42 F.3d 89 (2d Cir.1994); Michael v. Clark Equipment Co., 380 F.2d 351 (2d Cir.1967). We do not think that the attachment of parts of the Appraisal to National Western’s complaint makes its claims self-contradictory because we see nothing in the Appraisal sections attached to the complaint that contradicts National Western’s assertion in the alternative that it had not seen the Appraisal at the relevant time.

2. Information about the Valuations Not False and Misleading “in the Particular Manner Claimed” (“Future Sellout Value”)

The district court concluded that “National Western has not shown that the information about the valuations it has challenged was in fact false and misleading in the particular manner claimed.” AW I, 112 F.Supp.2d at 309. We think that the complaint pleaded falsity adequately.

According to National Western, Merrill Lynch’s Offering Summary and the Appraisal “presented a false and misleading appraisal of the fair market value of the residential condominium unit based on the estimated proceeds from the sale of shares in the Cooperative.” Second Amended [290]*290Complaint. In the Offering Summary, the appraised value is stated thus:

Appraised Value: The Future Sellout Value of the Residential Unit inclusive of the Mortgage Loan amount is equal to $41,135,000 in an appraisal performed by Wm. A. White/Tishman East, Inc. on January 24, 1989 (copy available on request).

JA 479.

According to National Western’s Second Amended Complaint and the testimony of the appraiser who prepared the Appraisal for Merrill Lynch, the $41 million value of the property approximates the value of the property only under the most favorable assumptions. As the appraiser explained, “the rules of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in providing these types of appraisals require[ ] the appraiser to value the property under three scenarios, and what’s presented here is just one of those three scenarios!)] [What] should be presented as the appraised value is all three.” JA 1371. In the appraiser’s opinion, using only this valuation of the Property in the Offering Summary was “misleading.” JA 1372. “[T]he value of the property is not $41,135,000. That value is something that might happen in the future ... [not] the current value of the property.” JA 1372. National Western has pled, at least in the alternative, that it relied solely on the information in the Offering Summary and therefore did not know about the contents of the Appraisal. It is therefore not chargeable as a matter of law, on a motion to dismiss, with knowledge of the alternate, lower valuations.

3. Rental Value

The $20 million rental value in the Appraisal was based on an assumption that all units would be rented, and that their rent would be at fair market value — none would be below market as a result of New York rent-stabilization laws. This valuation was made in the late 1980s, prior to a 1995 New York Court of Appeals decision that rendered that assumption incorrect. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. v. New York State Div. of Housing,

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89 F. App'x 287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-western-life-insurance-v-merrill-lynch-pierce-fenner-smith-ca2-2004.