Oscar Gruss & Son v. Geon Industries, Inc.

75 F.R.D. 531, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 76
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 28, 1977
DocketNo. 75 Civ. 5276 (GLG)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 75 F.R.D. 531 (Oscar Gruss & Son v. Geon Industries, Inc.) 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
Oscar Gruss & Son v. Geon Industries, Inc., 75 F.R.D. 531, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 76 (S.D.N.Y. 1977).

Opinion

GOETTEL, District Judge.

Oscar Gruss & Son (“Gruss”), a securities broker-dealer principally located in New York City, undertook a series of purchases of Geon Industries, Inc. (“Geon”) common stock after public announcement on December 20, 1973 of a takeover bid by Burmah Oil Company (“Burmah”) for Geon. Bur-mah’s initial offer was to purchase the assets of Geon for the equivalent of $16.80 per share of Geon common stock. While this initial offer was pending, Gruss purchased 1,000 shares of Geon common at 13V8. Plaintiff acknowledges that the transaction was for arbitrage purposes; meaning that the plaintiff bought in anticipation of a profit on the takeover and purchase by Bur-mah.

On April 30, 1974 Geon announced that Burmah’s offer was being reduced to the equivalent of $11 a share due to earnings below expectation by Geon in 1973. After this announcement Gruss, in a series of purchases, acquired 14,500 more shares of Geon common at an aggregate cost of $143,212.50. (Again, these purchases were acknowledged to be for arbitrage purposes.)

On July 12, 1974 Geon announced that Burmah had withdrawn its revised offer and had terminated its takeover bid. The reason given for this action was that litigation had been commenced against Geon by [533]*533former owners of a Geon subsidiary and Burmah did not want to purchase a company in litigation. When trading of Geon resumed, Gruss sold its entire holding of Geon stock. During the period July 31 through August 8, 1974 Gruss sold all its Geon stock and suffered a loss of $109,000. Gruss later (on November 15, 1974) purchased 2,000 additional shares of Geon which it held until July 18, 1975, when the shares were sold at a profit of $1,849.87.

On October 20, 1975, more than three months after Gruss had sold its last Geon holdings (and more than fourteen months after it incurred its losses), Geon announced that its earnings for the years 1971 through 1973 had been erroneously overstated, from a proper accounting standpoint, in an aggregate amount of $484,000. Four days later, Gruss commenced this action against Geon and its independent auditors, Arthur Andersen & Co.

The complaint alleges a single cause of action based on Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) and S.E.C. Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, alleging that the earnings statements of Geon for 1971 through 1973 were materially false and misleading and caused damage to plaintiff and all others who purchased Geon stock during the period from January 1, 1971 through October 20, 1975 in reliance thereon. On October 1, 1976, almost a year after the action was commenced, plaintiff first moved for class certification under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23. Plaintiff urges a class of all purchasers from January 1, 1971 through October 20, 1975. Defendant, not surprisingly, has opposed this motion and has cross-moved for summary judgment.

Plaintiff avers that since Geon was a widely traded issue, with over two million shares outstanding, the class well satisfies the requirement that it be too numerous to make use of joinder of all parties. As to the requirement of commonality of factual or legal issues, plaintiff urges that the occurrence of the misstatements, their materiality and the causation of injury, as well as reliance, are all common issues of fact. While conceding that the issue of damages will be individual to all plaintiffs, plaintiff argues that the existence of individual issues as to damages will not bar class certification citing Kronenberg v. Governor Clinton Hotel, 41 F.R.D. 42 (S.D.N.Y.1966). Finally, plaintiff makes the customary claims concerning his counsel’s extensive experience and expertise in securities law and class action litigation, and contends that it will be a fair and adequate representative for the class. (While no particular point is made of it, the Court is aware that Gruss has commenced other similar class actions with respect to other securities issues that had adverse histories.)

In opposition to these Rule 23(a) arguments the defendant contests the typicality of plaintiff’s claim, the existence of common questions of law or fact and the adequacy of plaintiff as a representative of the class sought. In addition, defendant moves for summary judgment arguing that there is lacking the element of causation in plaintiffs claim since the losses suffered were caused by arbitrage trading and not by erroneous earnings statements. Defendant also argues that the complaint alleges no scienter and therefore fails to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted. See Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder, 425 U.S. 185, 96 S.Ct. 1375, 47 L.Ed.2d 668 (1976). As a final point against class certification defendants point to the plaintiff’s failure to comply promptly with local Civil Rule 11A requiring that motions for class status be made within sixty days.

On a motion for summary judgment the court must view the facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. United States v. Diebold, 369 U.S. 654, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962). The court cannot try issues of fact but merely must determine if such issues of fact exist. Empire Electronics Co. v. United States, 311 F.2d 175, 179 (2d Cir. 1962). If there are issues of fact, the summary judgment motion must be denied. Empire Electronics Co., supra. Defendant’s motion in this case must be denied because the question of causation may be tenuous, but it remains a [534]*534question of fact. It is clear that Gruss’ losses resulted directly from the withdrawal of the Burmah bid and not the later disclosure of accounting discrepancies. But whether the Burmah bid, or its withdrawal, were caused by the earnings overstatement situation, are matters warranting extensive discovery. Whether or not plaintiff can prove causation on the unique set of facts presented is a question for trial, not for a summary judgment motion.

Turning to the motion for class certification, defendant’s last objection is that the plaintiff violated local Civil Rule 11A by failing to make the motion within sixty days of commencement of the action. Plaintiff argues that necessary discovery delayed this motion for ten months. While we do not find this argument convincing, enforcement of Rule 11A has not always involved a refusal to entertain the Rule 23 motion. Compare Walker v. Columbia University, 62 F.R.D. 63 (S.D.N.Y.1973) with Gilinsky v. Columbia University, 62 F.R.D. 178, 180 (S.D.N.Y.1974). The Court will not mechanically apply Rule 11A to deny consideration of the Rule 23 motion. Rather, it will take the delay into account as one factor to be considered in evaluating plaintiff’s satisfaction of Rule 23(a)(4).

Rule 23 establishes four prerequisites to a class action. The class must be so numerous as to make joinder of all members impracticable. Rule 23(a)(1). There must be common issues of law or fact. Rule 23(a)(2).

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

Related

Moye v. Credit Acceptance Corp., No. X01 Cv99-0157073 S (Jul. 16, 2001)
2001 Conn. Super. Ct. 10443-br (Connecticut Superior Court, 2001)
Linton v. Shearson Lehman/American Express, Inc.
122 F.R.D. 424 (S.D. New York, 1986)
Beebe v. Pacific Realty Trust
99 F.R.D. 60 (D. Oregon, 1983)
In re McDonnell Douglas Corp. Securities Litigation
98 F.R.D. 613 (E.D. Missouri, 1982)
Dura-Bilt Corp. v. Chase Manhattan Corp.
89 F.R.D. 87 (S.D. New York, 1981)
Oscar Gruss & Son v. Geon Industries, Inc.
89 F.R.D. 32 (S.D. New York, 1980)
McFarland v. Memorex Corp.
493 F. Supp. 631 (N.D. California, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 F.R.D. 531, 24 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oscar-gruss-son-v-geon-industries-inc-nysd-1977.