Official Committee of Equity Security Holders of Lone Star Industries, Inc. v. Lone Star Industries, Inc. (In re New York Trap Rock Corp.)

138 B.R. 420, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 517, 22 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1326
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 6, 1992
DocketNos. 90 B 21276, 90 B 21286, 90 B 21334 and 90 B 21335; No. 92 ADV. 5049
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 138 B.R. 420 (Official Committee of Equity Security Holders of Lone Star Industries, Inc. v. Lone Star Industries, Inc. (In re New York Trap Rock Corp.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Official Committee of Equity Security Holders of Lone Star Industries, Inc. v. Lone Star Industries, Inc. (In re New York Trap Rock Corp.), 138 B.R. 420, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 517, 22 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1326 (S.D.N.Y. 1992).

Opinion

DECISION ON MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT

HOWARD SCHWARTZBERG, Bankruptcy Judge.

Lone Star Industries, Inc. (“Lone Star”) on behalf of itself and the other above-captioned Chapter 11 debtors has moved to dismiss an adversary proceeding commenced in the name of Lone Star’s Official Committee of Equity Security Holders (the “Equity Committee”). The complaint in the adversary proceeding seeks to require Lone Star to convene a shareholders’ meeting. The Equity Committee amended its complaint to include Robert Henigson, a record holder of Lone Star common stock, as an additional plaintiff.

Lone Star’s motion for dismissal of the complaint is bottomed on three discrete grounds. First, it is argued that the Equity Committee lacks standing under the Bankruptcy Code to bring a proceeding to compel a shareholders’ meeting. Second, it is asserted that the Equity Committee has no authority under applicable Delaware law, which governs Lone Star’s incorporation in Delaware, to bring a proceeding to compel a shareholders’ meeting because such action may be brought only by a “stockholder” or a “director.” 8 Del.Code Ann.Gen.Corp. § 211(c). Third, Lone Star reasons that dismissal of the complaint is [422]*422required because the adversary proceeding was brought by a portion of the members of the Equity Committee, namely the common shareholder members. The preferred shareholder member of the Equity Committee abstained from supporting the adversary proceeding.

Background

Lone Star is a publicly-held corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. On December 10, 1990, Lone Star and its affiliated corporations filed with this court petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Lone Star has continued to operate and manage its business as a debtor in possession pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 1107 and 1108.

On November 8, 1991, the duly appointed Equity Committee commenced an action in the Delaware Chancery Court pursuant to section 211(c) of the Delaware General Corporation Law, to compel Lone Star’s Board of Directors to call a shareholders’ meeting for the purpose of electing new directors. At the same time, the Equity Committee applied to this court for leave to retain Delaware counsel, nunc pro tunc, as of October 22, 1991, at the debtor’s expense, to represent the Equity Committee in the Delaware action. Following a hearing held on December 3, 1991, this court denied the application and stayed further prosecution of the action in any forum other than in the bankruptcy court. The Delaware action was thereafter discontinued without prejudice.

There is no dispute that Lone Star’s corporate by-laws call for an annual meeting of shareholders on the first Thursday in May in each year or at such date as may be fixed by the Board of Directors. Lone Star’s last annual meeting was held on May 3, 1990. No annual meeting has been scheduled or held since such date. No plan of reorganization has either been negotiated or proposed by Lone Star to date. Section 211(c) of the Delaware General Corporation Law provides that upon “a failure to hold the annual meeting ... for a period of thirteen months ... after its annual meeting, the Court of Chancery may summarily order a meeting to be held upon the application of any stockholder or director." 8 Del.Code Ann.Gen.Corp. § 211(c) (emphasis added).

DISCUSSION

Standing of the Equity Committee

Lone Star maintains that the Equity Committee’s role in a Chapter 11 proceeding is strictly “advisory” and that it is not authorized to commence an adversary proceeding against the debtor at the expense of the estate for the benefit of a group of shareholders who wish to gain control of the debtor’s Board of Directors. Manifestly, the Equity Committee is a creature of the Bankruptcy Code and is authorized to exercise the specific powers delineated under 11 U.S.C. § 1103(c), including the authority to “perform such other services as are in the interest of those represented.” 11 U.S.C. § 1103(c)(5). If the officers and directors of a debtor corporation are incapable of managing the debtor’s business, an Equity Committee may seek the appointment of a trustee or examiner, as authorized under 11 U.S.C. §§ 1103(e)(4) and 1104. The fact that an Equity Committee has an express bankruptcy remedy for the appointment of a trustee or examiner does not mean that the Equity Committee is limited to this remedy, especially when 11 U.S.C. § 1103(c)(5) authorizes the performance of other unspecified services in the interest of the Equity shareholders.

The “other services” provision in 11 U.S.C. § 1103(c) was not viewed as sufficiently broad enough to authorize an equity committee to bring a state court litigation to compel a shareholders’ meeting in In re Johns-Manville Corp., 52 B.R. 879 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1985). Although the bankruptcy court stated that the “Equity Committee lacks standing to commence the Delaware action ...,” id. at 883, this dictum must be viewed in the context of the court’s narrower statement that section 1103 “does not grant a committee blanket authority to represent its constituency in matters outside and independent of the bankruptcy case.” Id. at 884 (emphasis added). In the instant case the Delaware action has been discon[423]*423tinued and the Equity Committee seeks an order, not outside the bankruptcy case, but from the bankruptcy court, compelling the debtor’s directors to schedule an annual shareholders’ meeting as required by its corporate by-laws. That the Equity Committee is not a “stockholder” within the meaning of Delaware General Corporation Law § 211(c) is of no moment because the adversary proceeding is not pending in the Delaware Chancery Court but instead, under the aegis of the bankruptcy court, where the court’s authority to direct the debtor’s officers and directors to comply with the corporate by-laws is not predicated on the specific language articulated in Delaware General Corporation Law § 211(c). In any event, in reversing the lower courts in the Johns-Manville case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals observed that the appointment of a trustee or examiner was not the exclusive remedy available to the equity committee “in light of this circuit’s legitimation of the shareholders’ right to elect new directors for the frank purpose of advancing a plan they prefer.” In re Johns-Manville Corp., 801 F.2d 60, 66 (2d Cir.1986).

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Bluebook (online)
138 B.R. 420, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 517, 22 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/official-committee-of-equity-security-holders-of-lone-star-industries-inc-nysd-1992.