Niitsoo v. Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.

902 F. Supp. 2d 797, 2012 WL 5395812, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158049
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. West Virginia
DecidedNovember 5, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 2:12-cv-04377
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 902 F. Supp. 2d 797 (Niitsoo v. Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Niitsoo v. Alpha Natural Resources, Inc., 902 F. Supp. 2d 797, 2012 WL 5395812, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158049 (S.D.W. Va. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOSEPH R. GOODWIN, Chief Judge.

Pending before the court is the plaintiffs Motion to Remand Case to the Circuit Court of Boone County [Docket 13]. The disposition of this motion depends on whether the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), as amended by the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA), permits the removal of securities class actions alleging violations of federal law. This is a matter of first impression for this court. For the reasons stated below, I hold that, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, the Securities Act only permits the removal of securities class actions alleging state law fraud violations, as defined in 15 U.S.C. § 77p(b), which must be dismissed whether they are before state or federal courts. Arguments to the contrary exist, but recent Supreme Court dicta in Kircher v. Putnam Funds Trust, 547 U.S. 633, 126 S.Ct. 2145, 165 L.Ed.2d 92 (2006), persuade me that the defendants cannot properly remove a federal securities class action originally brought in state court. Accordingly, the Motion to Remand is GRANTED.

I. Factual Background

This case arises out of the June 1, 2011 merger of Massey Energy Co. (“Massey”) into defendant Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (“Alpha”), both major producers and sellers of coal. Pursuant to the merger agreement, Massey shareholders received $10 and 1.025 shares of Alpha common stock for each share of Massey common stock they owned. {See Compl. [Docket 1-2], at 2-3). The plaintiff contends that Alpha acquired the outstanding Massey shares at an unreasonably low price by exchanging them for shares of Alpha that were over-valued due to Alpha’s non-disclosure of production issues that were kept hidden until after the merger. {See id. at 21-24). On July 13, 2012, the plaintiff filed this securities class action in the Circuit Court of Boone County, West Virginia on behalf of former Massey shareholders, other than the defendants, who received Alpha common stock in exchange for their Massey common stock. {See id. at 1). [799]*799The suit alleges only violations of federal law, specifically sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77a et seq., against Alpha and ten of its officers and directors. (See id.; Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of Morgan Stanley and Citigroup [Docket 32]).

On August 16, 2012, the defendants removed the case to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446 [Docket 1]. On August 30, the plaintiff moved to remand the case to the Circuit Court of Boone County [Docket 13]. The issue of remand has been fully briefed and is now ripe for review. For the reasons stated below, the motion to remand is GRANTED.

II. Legal Background

The plaintiffs Motion to Remand presents the court with a single, significant issue: whether a securities class action filed in state court can be removed to federal court if it alleges only violations of federal law. To quote another district court that dealt with the same issue:

Although the question is straight-forward, the answer has been anything but simple. Instead, because the specific removal provision (15 U.S.C. § 77p) and the general provision governing concurrent jurisdiction of federal securities (15 U.S.C. § 77v) are fraught with confusion, district courts have been unable to come up with a unified response to the question. Rather, district courts are split, with some finding removal of such federal claims from state court to be proper and with others finding that these federal claims must be remanded to state court.

Unschuld v. Tri-S Sec. Corp., No. 1:06— CV-02931-JEC, 2007 WL 2729011, at *1 (N.D.Ga. Sept. 14, 2007). The answer to the question depends on the interpretation of three of the amendments that SLUSA made to the Securities Act — 15 U.S.C. § 77p(e), and two changes to 15 U.S.C. § 77v(a).

Originally, the Securities Act “provided for unqualified concurrent jurisdiction in both federal and state courts of cases brought under the 1933 Act.” Id. at *3. It also “prohibited a defendant from removing to federal court a case under the 1933 Act that had been filed in state court.” Id.; See 15 U.S.C. § 77v(a) (1933) (“[N]o case arising under [the 1933 Act] and brought in any State court of competent jurisdiction shall be removed to any court of the United States.”). The combination of concurrent jurisdiction and lack of removal allowed plaintiffs in all federal securities cases to choose unilaterally whether the case would be heard in federal or state court.

In an effort to limit frivolous strike suits against corporations, Congress enacted the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 77z-l, 78u. The PSLRA erected barriers to bringing securities class actions under federal law, such as heightened pleading requirements for federal securities fraud claims. See Lander v. Hartford Life & Annuity Ins. Co., 251 F.3d 101, 107 (2d Cir.2001). However, there was a loophole — PSLRA’s heightened requirements could be avoided by alleging securities fraud under state law instead of federal law. Many plaintiffs took advantage by filing suits in state court alleging securities fraud under state law. See id. at 107-08.

One of the primary motivations behind SLUSA’s enactment was to prevent plaintiffs from using state law actions to frustrate the objectives of PSLRA. See Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Dabit, 547 U.S. 71, 82, 126 S.Ct. 1503, 164 L.Ed.2d 179 (2006); Unschuld, 2007 WL 2729011, at *2-3. The SLUSÁ closed the PSLRA loophole by amending the Securities Act to prohibit any court, state or [800]*800federal, from hearing class action securities fraud claims under state law. See Dabit, 547 U.S. at 82, 126 S.Ct. 1503; 15 U.S.C. § 77p(b) (barring state and federal courts from hearing state law securities fraud class actions). Plaintiffs must now file securities fraud class actions under the federal Securities Act.

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Bluebook (online)
902 F. Supp. 2d 797, 2012 WL 5395812, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/niitsoo-v-alpha-natural-resources-inc-wvsd-2012.