Rose v. Arkansas Valley Environmental & Utility Authority

562 F. Supp. 1180, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17635
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 18, 1983
Docket81-0397-CV-W-0
StatusPublished
Cited by64 cases

This text of 562 F. Supp. 1180 (Rose v. Arkansas Valley Environmental & Utility Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rose v. Arkansas Valley Environmental & Utility Authority, 562 F. Supp. 1180, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17635 (W.D. Mo. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDERS

ROSS T. ROBERTS, District Judge.

This is an action in which nine plaintiffs, as holders of certain revenue bonds issued by defendant Arkansas Valley Environmental & Utility Authority (“the Authority”), seek damages and other relief in connection with an alleged securities fraud relating to those bonds. Named as defendants together with the Authority are three business corporations, Milanson Development Co., Stone Enterprises, Inc., and C.M. Stone & Co.; a bank, Plaza Bank & Trust Company (“Plaza Bank”); and three individuals, Fred W. Rausch, an attorney, Julian M. Riley, an attorney, and one Roy G. Miller. The complaint is in seven counts, the first asserting claims under sections 10(b) and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78t, and under Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Commission, 17 C. F.R. § 240.10b-5. The remaining six counts allege state law claims for violations of the Uniform Securities Act as adopted in Missouri, Chapter 409 R.S.Mo. 1969 (as amended) (Second Claim), for common law fraud and deceit (Third Claim), for negligence (Fourth Claim), for punitive damages (Fifth and Sixth Claims), and for breach of trust (Seventh Claim).

The matter comes before me on separate motions to dismiss filed by defendants Rausch and Plaza Bank. Plaza Bank asserts thereby that plaintiffs’ claims are time barred. Rausch joins in that suggestion, and additionally urges that plaintiffs Allgood, McFeely and Kessler lack standing to assert 10(b) and 10b-5 claims, that venue is improper with respect to plaintiffs’ 10(b) *1186 and 10b-5 claims, that personal jurisdiction over him with regard to the state law claims is lacking, and that the complaint fails to state a claim as against him. None of the other defendants has filed a responsive pleading of any kind.

Neither defendant’s motion is styled as one for summary judgment, but both moving defendants and plaintiffs have submitted affidavits and other evidentiary materials in support of their respective positions. 1 Those materials relate to the statute of limitations question, the venue question, and the question of personal jurisdiction over defendant Rausch. Since I have not excluded the materials, the issues to which they relate will be treated under the summary judgment procedure provided for in Rule 56. 2 See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b). The remaining issues raised by the motions will be dealt with directly under Rule 12(b).

I

BACKGROUND

In the spring of 1974, defendant Authority, an Oklahoma trust with its principal place of business in the State of Oklahoma, issued certain revenue bonds in the total principal amount of $840,000, to finance the construction of streets, curbs and gutters in a private real estate development in or near the community of Prue, Oklahoma. Those bonds are hereinafter referred to as the “Series A 1973” bonds. Plaintiffs (or in three instances, their respective predecessors in title) are purchasers of certain of the Series A 1973 bonds.

According to the averments of the complaint, paraphrased and synthesized for present purposes, with a liberal reading in plaintiffs’ favor, the bonds in question were essentially worthless from the outset. In general, it is alleged that defendants assisted one another in the perpetration of a fraud in connection with that fact by causing the bonds to be issued and marketed, and by failing to disclose on the face of the bonds or otherwise in connection with their issuance and sale a number of matters which, if truly stated or revealed, would have disclosed to the buying public the inherently valueless nature of the instruments. Asserted as being among such matters was the fact that the bonds were (contrary to the pronouncement on the face of each bond) either totally unsecured or at least undersecured or improperly secured; the fact that the bonds had been issued without any closing procedure; the fact that the underwriting discounts, commissions and various fees connected with issuance amounted to over 30% of the total bond proceeds; the fact that the underlying project for which the bonds were issued was undercapitalized and would have been so even .if all of the bond proceeds had been paid over to defendant Authority; the fact that no effort had been made to determine whether the revenues generated by the project would be sufficient to pay the interest on the bonds, and that in fact a realistic appraisal of the project would have demonstrated the negative of that proposition; the fact that the project developers were inexperienced in such projects; and the fact that, because of improper use of the bond proceeds, difficulties might exist with respect to federal income tax exemption for the bond interest. As to the roles of the alleged participants, plaintiffs assert that defendant Miller was a controlling person of the defendant Authority itself, as well as of defendant Milanson Development Co., the proposed lessee of the project property, and defendant C.M. Stone & Co., which apparently acted as the underwriter of the bond issue; that defendant Riley acted as a promoter of the project together with Miller; that defendant Rausch acted as bond counsel; and that defendant Plaza *1187 Bank acted as trustee and paying agent for the issue.

Precisely when the present plaintiffs or their predecessors acquired their bonds and when or in what manner difficulties first became apparent is unclear from the materials presently before me, although it is clear that a default in the payment of interest on the bonds occurred in June or July of 1975. In any event, our scene now shifts to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, where on May 2, 1977, one Clarence Bishop, as a purchaser and holder of certain bonds issued by the Authority a year prior to the Series A 1973 bonds (such earlier bonds being referred to hereinafter as “Series A 1972” bonds), and as the sole named plaintiff, instituted a class action proceeding alleging securities fraud claims in respect of both the Series A 1972 and Series A 1973 issues. Named as defendants therein were some 16 persons, corporations and business entities, including six of the defendants named in the present case. 3 The complaint, except for its class action allegations and the fact that it dealt with both the Series A 1972 and Series A 1973 issues, was substantially similar to the complaint presently before me. The class for which certification was requested was described as being “composed of all persons who purchased the Series A, 1972 and 1973 Bonds,” except for certain excluded groups consisting of underwriters, dealers and like persons.

From the information presently available it appears that the Bishop suit 4

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

Related

Wang Yan v. ReWalk Robotics Ltd.
D. Massachusetts, 2019
Wang Yan v. Rewalk Robotics Ltd.
391 F. Supp. 3d 150 (District of Columbia, 2019)
Aviva Life & Annuity Co. v. Davis
20 F. Supp. 3d 694 (S.D. Iowa, 2014)
In Re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation
793 F. Supp. 2d 637 (S.D. New York, 2011)
In Re Enron Corp. Securities
529 F. Supp. 2d 644 (S.D. Texas, 2006)
Popoola v. Md-Individual Practice Ass'n
230 F.R.D. 424 (D. Maryland, 2005)
Reding v. Goldman Sachs & Co.
382 F. Supp. 2d 1112 (E.D. Missouri, 2005)
Christensen v. Philip Morris USA Inc.
875 A.2d 823 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2005)
Cooper v. Pacific Life Insurance
229 F.R.D. 245 (S.D. Georgia, 2005)
Calcutti v. SBU, INC.
273 F. Supp. 2d 488 (S.D. New York, 2003)
Miller v. Asensio
101 F. Supp. 2d 395 (D. South Carolina, 2000)
Berk v. MARYLAND PUBLICK BANKS, INC.
6 F. Supp. 2d 472 (D. Maryland, 1998)
Bromley v. Michigan Education Ass'n-NEA
178 F.R.D. 148 (E.D. Michigan, 1998)
McFeeley v. Florig
966 F. Supp. 378 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1997)
Ball v. Nationscredit Financial Services Corp.
207 B.R. 869 (N.D. Illinois, 1997)
In Re Maxxam, Inc./fed. Dev. Shareholders
698 A.2d 949 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
562 F. Supp. 1180, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rose-v-arkansas-valley-environmental-utility-authority-mowd-1983.