Nussbacher v. Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co.

61 F.R.D. 399, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1037, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12687
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 16, 1973
DocketNo. 73 C 512
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 61 F.R.D. 399 (Nussbacher v. Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nussbacher v. Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co., 61 F.R.D. 399, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1037, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12687 (N.D. Ill. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION and JUDGMENT ORDER

AUSTIN, District Judge.

Plaintiff, -a shareholder in Leasco Corporation, commenced this derivative action on its behalf against Continental Bank and Trust Company of Chicago and the Leasco directors. Plaintiff seeks to recover for Leasco damages sustained as a result of defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the credit margin requirements of the Federal Reserve Board. The principal claim presented asserts that certain lending institutions, the most prominent of which was defendant Continental, unlawfully extended credit to enable Leasco to accomplish a takeover of Reliance Insurance Company. For a detailed factual treatment of the Leas-co-Relianee takeover and some of the federal violations resulting therefrom, see Judge Weinstein’s decision in Feit v. Leasco, 332 F.Supp. 544 (E.D.N.Y.1971). Such a presentation is unnecessary in the resolution of the instant matter.

Defendant Continental moves to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that plaintiff failed to verify it and to allege, with particularity, reasons excusing the making of a prior demand upon Leasco’s directors. Continental further contends that the alleged defects are fatal and require dismissal. For reasons stated below, defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted with leaVe to amend. Both issues are treated in this opinion in the event that plaintiff is able to cure her complaint upon amendment.

I. Verification of the Derivative Complaint.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23.1 specifies that the complaint in a derivative action must be verified. Prior to instituting this claim, plaintiff commenced a similar suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Although that action was dismissed for lack of proper venue, the complaint submitted therein was verified and nothing presented to this court leads me to believe that the failure to verify here was anything other than an inadvertent mistake. Indeed, plaintiff has now proffered verification and has submitted an affidavit demonstrating her good faith in this regard. The best authorities maintain that failure to verify is a technical defect, curable by amendment. 2 Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 3.04 2d Ed. (1970); 7A, C. Wright & A. Miller, Fed[402]*402eral Practice and Procedure § 1827 (1972); cf. Surowitz v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 383 U.S. 363, 86 S.Ct. 845, 15 L.Ed.2d 807 (1966). And I so hold.

II. Demand on Directors.

Again turning to Rule 23.1, a proper derivative suit must “allege with particularity the efforts, if any, made by the plaintiff to obtain the action he desires from the directors . . . and the reasons for his failure to obtain the action or for not making the effort.” Plaintiff’s excuse for not making demand is that the directors are defendants herein, had knowledge of and acquiesced in the wrongs set forth in the complaint, and are jointly and severally liable for the damages caused to Leasco.

Defendant responds that none of the directors have been personally served, that all director decisions pertinent to this action are protected from the shareholder attack by the business judgment rule, and that the directors cannot be liable under the credit margin requirements since, at the time these transactions occurred, such rules were applicable only to lender institutions. I find this line of argument highly persuasive.

The rationale of the Rule 23.1 demand requirement is that the corporate board of directors, exercising their reasonable and good faith business judgment, possesses the paramount right to corporate control and management. Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). The power and right to invoke judicial sanctions to rectify corporate injuries resides in the board of directors and represents an integral aspect of their duties.

While excuse of demand is wholly within the sound discretion of the trial court, Robison v. Caster, 356 F.2d 924 (7th Cir. 1966), it is usually limited to cases where the directors wrongfully refuse to pursue corporate rights or are personally involved in the wrongdoing. Fletcher, Corporate Cyclopedia, § 5965, n. 2 (1970); Note, 73 Harv.L.Rev. 746, 753 (1960) (citing cases). Indeed, mere approval of corporate action, absent self-interest or bias, cannot be the basis for establishing director misconduct since directors are afforded such considerable latitude in managing their corporations. In re Kauffman Mutual Fund Actions, 479 F.2d 257 (1st Cir. 1973). To hold otherwise would be to strip Rule 23.1 of any logical meaning.

Thus, before a court will dislodge control from its rightful possessors, the complaining shareholder must show that his complaint is an exceptional one. This burden rests squarely with the plaintiff and may be raised by any party to the action. See, e. g., Hawes v. Oakland, 104 U.S. 450, 26 L.Ed. 827 (1881) (lack of demand raised by city of Oakland), and Robison v. Caster, supra (issue raised by individual defendant’s executor). The shareholder must, in short, either diligently exhaust his internal corporate remedies or “allege with particularity” the reasons why such exhaustion would be meaningless.

Plaintiff’s broad, conclusory ¿negations of wrongdoing by the directors are unsupported by underlying facts and, indeed, are contradicted by the fact that the directors, as members of a borrowing corporation, could not be liable under the credit margin rules, even if a violation was proven. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges no other “wrongdoing,” nor can such conclusions be fairly drawn from plaintiff’s documents.

In this context, I cannot find that demand upon the directors would be futile or useless. If plaintiff is correct in her conclusory allegations of director liability and hostility, such facts must be properly alleged and verified. No such facts are so alleged and verified. Accordingly, defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted with leave of 20 days to amend plaintiff’s complaint in accordance with this decision.

[403]*403Plaintiff’s contentions concerning the law of the case doctrine have been considered and are resolved against her. See Moore, Federal Practice, ¶ 0.404 (2d ed. 1970).

So ordered.

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION

In attempted compliance with my Memorandum Opinion and Judgment Order of July 16, 1973, plaintiff filed her verified amended complaint on September 7, 1973. Therefore, she has cured the first defect in her original complaint, namely, her failure to verify it. However, defendant Continental Bank now moves to dismiss again because of plaintiff’s failure to comply with the requirement under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23.1 that formal demand be made upon the Leaseo board of directors to enforce the alleged right of the corporation or that there be a showing of an adequate excuse for failure to make such a demand.

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61 F.R.D. 399, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1037, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nussbacher-v-continental-illinois-bank-trust-co-ilnd-1973.