Okin v. Securities & Exchange Commission

154 F.2d 27, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3779, 1946 WL 62870
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 4, 1946
DocketNos. 209-211
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 154 F.2d 27 (Okin v. Securities & Exchange Commission) 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
Okin v. Securities & Exchange Commission, 154 F.2d 27, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3779, 1946 WL 62870 (2d Cir. 1946).

Opinion

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

The basic order sought to be reviewed is that of January 22, 1944. This order, entered upon the joint application of Electric Bond and Share Company and its subsi[28]*28diary, American & Foreign Power Company, approved the refinancing of a large indebtedness owed by the subsidiary (hereafter called Foreign Power) to its parent (hereafter called Bond and Share). The debt arose out of a loan of $30,000,000 made by Bond and Share to Foreign Power in 1931 and a second loan of $5,000,000 made in 1932. In 1944 the debt was evidenced by a single note for $35,000,000 dated February 14, 1935 and bearing 7% interest. This note became overdue in 1939 and interest was thereafter paid at 6%. The joint application of debtor and creditor proposed that in satisfaction of the outstanding note the debtor make á cash payment of $5,000,000 and issue its 3% serial notes aggregating $30,000,000 and maturing at successive yearly intervals. The order of January' 22, 1944 approved this proposal .but upon conditions (imposed by the Commission on its own initiative) to the effect that such approval shall not affect the “rank and status” of the debt, and if final determination of such rank and status has not been made before any of the renewal notes matures, such note shall not be paid at maturity unless the Commission so orders, and the failure to pay it shall not increase the interest rate on the overdue note, nor accelerate the maturity of thff other renewal notes.1 The orders of April 25, 1945 and August 17, 1945 relate to extending, upon the same conditions, the maturity of renewal note No. 1 issued pursuant to the basic order of January 22, 1944.

Okin’s petition to review the basic order has already been before this court. A motion by the Commission to dismiss his petition on the grounds that he is not a person “aggrieved” 2 by the order and that his contentions as to error in the order were frivolous, was denied in 143 F.2d 945. Our decision was affirmed in American Power & Light Co. v. Securities and Exchange Commission, 325 U.S. 385, 392, 65 S.Ct. 1254. Thereafter we denied a motion by Okin to require the Commission to file a complete record of the proceedings before the Commission in lieu of the abbreviated record filed by it. The case is here upon such abbreviated record, which is ample for presentation of the only contention now made by Okin, namely, that the Commission lacked power to impose conditions postponing payment of the renewal notes until the rank and status of the debt as against other creditors of Foreign Power should be determined.3

[29]*29In support of his contention the petitioner makes the following points: (1) Foreign Power is not subject to regulation under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935; (2) the orders under review are in effect injunctions against payment of the debt, and the Commission has no power to issue an injunction; (3) section 26(c), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79z(c) precludes construing other provisions of the Act to authorize the making of the orders under review. These points will be discussed seriatim.

(1) Foreign Power is a Maine corporation, many of whose securities are held by American investors. It is a subsidiary of Bond and Share, which has registered as a holding company under the Act. Foreign Power does not operate directly or indirectly any public utility within the United States, and its income from utility operations is derived solely from subsidiary companies operating in foreign countries. Because of these facts the petitioner argues that the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 does not give the Commission jurisdiction to regulate any of Foreign Power’s affairs.4 We cannot agree with this contention. Foreign Power is within the literal definitions of “holding company” and “subsidiary company,” set forth in sections 2(a) (7) and 2(a) (8), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79b(a) (7, 8) respectively, neither of which contains any geographical limitation. Under section 3(a) (5), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79c (a) (5), the Commission is directed to exempt by rule or order a holding company from any provision or provisions of the Act “unless and except insofar as it finds the exemption detrimental to the public interest or the interest of investors * * * if— * * * (5) such holding company is not, and derives no material part of its income, directly or indirectly, from any one or more subsidiary companies which are, a company or companies the principal business of which within the United States is that of a public-utility company.”5 A similar provision for the exemption of a subsidiary company of a holding company is found in section 3(b). The discretion which sections 3(a) (5) and 3(b) confer upon the Commission to consider the public interest and the interest of investors in determining the extent of the exemption to be granted to a company such as Foreign Power would be meaningless, if the definitions of “holding company” and “subsidiary” were to be so limited as ipso facto to make the Act inapplicable to such a company. Consequently, in our opinion, the Commission had power to rule, as it did in 6 S. E. C. 396, that Foreign Power was entitled to only partial exemption from regulation under the Act. We do not understand the petitioner to argue, nor could he successfully do so, that the partial exemption granted Foreign Power was broad enough to exempt it from the provisions-upon which the Commission relied in making the orders now under review.

(2) The petitioner’s second point is grounded on the premise that the orders under review are in effect an injunction against payment of the debt, or any part thereof except the $5,000,000 payment authorized by the basic order, until the Commission shall have ruled upon its “rank and status.” The argument is that the Commission has no power to make an injunctive order, but must apply under section 18(f), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79r(f), to a federal court to enjoin any acts or practices which will constitute a violation of the provisions of the Act. Assuming the argument to be sound, the premise on which it is based is faulty. The basic order contains no injunctive provision; it authorizes the debt- or to issue renewal notes on certain conditions.6 Both debtor and creditor accepted these conditions and the notes were delivered in conformity therewith. Should the debtor make any payment in violation [30]*30of the terms of the order, its action would not be m contempt of any injunctive provision of the order. Whether it could be proceeded against under section 29, 15 U.S.C.A. § 79z — 3, for a criminal offensé is another question, but one which is irrelevant to the argument based on section 18(f).

(3) In support of its power to make the orders under review the ■ Commission refers to numerous sections of the Act, and particularly to 6(a), 7(d) and (f), and 12 (c) and (f) 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 79f(a), 79g(d, f), 79l{c, f). Section 6(a). provides that, except in accordance with a declaration effective under section 7, no “registered holding company or subsidiary company thereof” shall “issue or sell any security of such company.” The notes which Foreign Power proposed to issue in renewal of its debt to its parent were a “security” within the definition of section 2(a) (16).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Securities & Exchange Commission v. Pinez
989 F. Supp. 325 (D. Massachusetts, 1997)
Gunter v. Hutcheson
492 F. Supp. 546 (N.D. Georgia, 1980)
In Re American & Foreign Power Co.
80 F. Supp. 514 (D. Maine, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
154 F.2d 27, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3779, 1946 WL 62870, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/okin-v-securities-exchange-commission-ca2-1946.