O'Brien v. Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co.

443 F. Supp. 1131, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 947, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12723
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided November 28, 1977·No. 72 C 2551, 73 C 46, 73 C 660, 74 C 2899, 73 C 772, 73 C 3132 and 73 C 1755·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FLAUM, District Judge:

These actions presently before the court were filed at various times during 1972 through 1974 and have been consolidated for various pretrial matters. All the cases are essentially similar in that they each allege violations by defendant of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, § 10(b), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240. 10b-5, promulgated thereunder, as well as Illinois common law. Basically, 1 plaintiffs allege that they are beneficiaries of various trusts of which defendant, Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago (Continental), is trustee. Plaintiffs *1133 contend that Continental made unlawful purchases and sales of various securities for the plaintiffs’ trusts and Continental violated the aforementioned federal statutes and Illinois law.

In an order dated May 10, 1974, 2 Judge McGarr, to whom these cases 3 were previously assigned, denied defendant Continental’s motion to dismiss these cases holding that plaintiffs’ complaints stated valid causes of action under section 10(b) and rule 10b-5. Thereafter the Supreme Court decided Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723, 95 S.Ct. 1917, 44 L.Ed.2d 539 (1975), and Continental moved to reconsider Judge McGarr’s May 10, 1974 ruling. This court, having been reassigned the case, took defendant’s motion to reconsider under advisement and delayed its ruling until the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Santa Fe Indus., Inc. v. Green, 430 U.S. 462, 97 S.Ct. 1292, 51 L.Ed.2d 480 (1977). This court then, in an order dated May 24,1977, reconsidered the May 10,1974 ruling and, relying primarily on Green, granted Continental’s motion to dismiss the federal securities claims raised in plaintiffs’ complaints. 4 O’Brien v. Continental Illinois Nat’l Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago, 431 F.Supp. 292 (N.D.Ill.1977), appeal pending. Thus, this court held that although plaintiffs, as beneficiaries of trusts, had standing to sue Continental for violations of section 10(b) or rule 10b-5, id. at 295, plaintiffs had . failed to allege that defendant made a material misstatement or omission to plaintiffs in connection with the purchase or sale of securities for plaintiffs’ trusts. Id. at 296-97. 5

Presently before the court is defendant’s motion to dismiss the various state law claims alleged in plaintiffs’ complaints on the ground of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 6 Plaintiffs contend that this court has jurisdiction over the state law claims pursuant to the doctrine of “pendent jurisdiction,” and the plaintiffs in Lipson, 73 C 660, the plaintiff Credit Union Nat’l Ass’n in Brabec, 74 C 2899, and the plaintiffs in O’Donnell, 73 C 772, argue that this court has jurisdiction over their state claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 diversity jurisdiction. 7 This court shall consider each issue raised seriatum.

A. Pendent Jurisdiction

As stated previously, all plaintiffs presently before the court argue that this court has jurisdiction over their state law claims pursuant to the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction. Although the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction has a long and torturous history, see generally 3A J. Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 18.07[l.-2], at 1921-32 (1974); C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3567, at 439-62 (1975), the appropriate starting point in any modern discussion of pendent jurisdiction is United *1134 Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966). As delineated by the Supreme Court in Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U.S. 693, 93 S.Ct. 1785, 36 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973),

Gibbs involved a suit brought under both federal and state law by a contractor to recover damages allegedly suffered as a result of a secondary boycott imposed upon it by a union. There existed independent federal jurisdiction as to the federal claim, but there was no independent basis of jurisdiction to support the state law claim. Nevertheless, the Court concluded that federal courts could exercise pendent jurisdiction over the state law claim.

Id. at 711, 93 S.Ct. at 1796. The Supreme Court held that federal courts had the power to hear state law claims which arose from a “common nucleus of operative fact[s]” with a substantial federal law claim. 383 U.S. at 725. Thus, the Court expanded and delineated the scope of an Article III constitutional “case” to encompass all matters, both federal and state, which a litigant would expect “to try . in one judicial proceeding.” Id.

In the cases at bar, plaintiffs contend that their state law claims all arise from the same common nucleus of operative facts out of which their federal claims arise. Although defendant does not dispute this contention, defendant argues that: (1) this court still lacks the power to hear plaintiffs’ state law claims; and (2) if this court has power to hear the plaintiffs’s state law claims it should exercise the discretion afforded by Gibbs to federal courts to decline to hear state law claims which lack an independent basis of federal jurisdiction.

1. Power to hear the state law claims

In support of its contention that this court lacks power to hear the plaintiffs’ state law claims, Continental makes two arguments. First, defendant argues that in order for a court to consider state law claims, those claims must be pendent to “substantial” federal law claims. Defendant suggests that individuals with state law claims should not be allowed to foist those claims upon federal courts by the mere talismanic raising of federal laws. While this court agrees that defendant has accurately stated the abstract principle of law involved herein, 8 in the cases at bar plaintiffs’ state law claims were pendent to “substantial” federal claims.

As stated in Hagans v. Lavine,

O'Brien v. Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co., 443 F. Supp. 1131, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 947, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12723 (N.D. Ill. 1977).

443 F. Supp. 1131 (O'Brien v. Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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