Securities & Exchange Commission v. North American Research & Development Corp.

59 F.R.D. 111, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 931, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 14, 1972
DocketNo. 67 Civ. 3724
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 59 F.R.D. 111 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. North American Research & Development 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
Securities & Exchange Commission v. North American Research & Development Corp., 59 F.R.D. 111, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 931, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745 (S.D.N.Y. 1972).

Opinion

MOTLEY, District Judge.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This case presents the question of whether a party can be awarded summa[112]*112ry judgment on its main action on the basis of findings and conclusions in its favor after hearing on an earlier preliminary injunction motion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed the complaint in this action on September 26, 1967, seeking to enjoin 43 defendants from violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act in connection with the offer and sale of the common stock of defendant North American Research and Development Corp. (NARD) and any other securities. The complaint also charged all defendants with violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Soon after filing the complaint the SEC moved for a preliminary injunction. District Judge Mansfield held seven days of hearings at which oral testimony was given by 24 witnesses before rendering lengthy findings of fact and conclusions of law on February 8, 1968 (reported at 280 F.Supp. 106, D.C.N.Y.). On the basis of that opinion he preliminarily enjoined a number of defendants. The Court of Appeals, also in a detailed opinion, upheld the District Court’s injunction, and remanded for further hearings on several defendants who had not been enjoined (reported at 424 F.2d 63 (2d Cir. 1970)). After further oral argument the District Court enjoined three additional defendants.

The facts involved in this case are extensively set forth in the two opinions on the motion for the preliminary injunction. Briefly, Edward White (White) and other defendants are charged with selling blocks of NARD stock despite the fact that the stock was not registered, and with violating the antifraud provisions of the securities laws in connection with those sales.

Of the original 42 defendants served in this action, permanent injunctions have been entered against all but sixteen.1 The SEC now moves for summary judgment against those sixteen remaining defendants: NARD, White, Robert A. Johnson, Lewis Dillman, Donald Glenn, K. Ralph Bowman, Norma C. Bowman, Ramon N. Bowman, Albert W. Conrad, Wellington Hunter d/b/a Wellington Hunter Associates, Alfred Blum-berg, Richard E. Whitney, Frank Whitney, Abby Whitney, Griffith C. Lind-quist d/b/a Lindquist Securities Co., and Dunhill Securities Corporation. Judge Mansfield preliminarily enjoined all of these defendants but three: Norma C. Bowman, Albert Conrad and Abby Whitney.

In the alternative, the SEC moves for a default judgment against defendants Ramon N. Bowman, Conrad, Glenn, Norma C. Bowman, Frank M. Whitney, Abby Whitney and Dillman for failure to appear and testify at a deposition in 1970.

Defendants Dillman, Hunter, and Lindquist defaulted on this motion. A permanent injunction was therefore entered against them on March 14, 1972 by Judge Metzner. The SEC’s motions will be partly or wholly denied with respect to the other defendants, hov/ever, for the reasons which follow.

In support of its motion for summary judgment the SEC essentially relies on the findings of the District Court and Court of Appeals on the preliminary injunction motion. It has presented the Court with a lengthy affidavit of a staff attorney, but this document is merely a restatement of the facts found by Judge Mansfield. The SEC has also included transcripts of proceedings before the Commission in August and September 1967, prior to the initiation of this ac[113]*113tion and the motion for a preliminary injunction.

The position of the SEC is that the hearing and appeal on the preliminary injunction settled all factual issues in its favor, and that there are thus no facts in dispute. It states:

“Summary judgment in this instance is not premature. The defendants have been afforded the opportunity for an evidentiary hearing, and two courts have held that defendants have offered no evidence or testimony to controvert and rebut the plaintiffs allegations.
* * # * * *
“In view of the fact that the instant issues have been exhaustively tried and reviewed, a permanent injunction should issue forthwith.” (SEC brief at 8, 9).

It is important to note that the hearing before Judge Mansfield was addressed solely to the question of whether or not preliminary injunction should issue. The trial of the action on the merits was not consolidated with that hearing, as permitted by Rule 65(a)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P., nor does the record before us suggest that the SEC ever moved for such consolidation. Nevertheless, the SEC contends: “The defendants were afforded the safeguard of an evidentiary hearing which, in effect, is a trial.” (SEC brief at 8, 9).

“In effect” the hearing on the preliminary injunction was nothing more than just that. We are thus presented with the question of whether factual and legal determinations made oh a motion for preliminary injunction are final for the purposes of a motion for summary judgment. The SEC has not cited one case in favor of its novel contention that they are, nor has this court been able to find such precedent on its own investigation. But cf. Mason v. Palo Verde Irrigation District, 132 F. 2d 714 (9th Cir. 1943) (alternative holding); Yonkers Raceway, Inc. v. Standardbred Owners Association, Inc., 21 F. R.D. 3, 6 (S.D.N.Y.1957) (questions decided on the hearing for a preliminary injunction should be adhered to unless it clearly appears that an error was committed or that additional facts brought out at trial demand a modification). Rather, the tenor of the cases, and the function of preliminary injunctions, forbid the granting of summary judgment on the basis of the determination of a preliminary injunction motion.

In the first place, the grant or denial of a temporary injunction does not conclude the parties on the merits of the case. Sutton Cosmetics (P.R.) v. Lander Co., 445 F.2d 285 (2d Cir. 1972). As was stated in Benson Hotel Corp. v. Woods, 168 F.2d 694, 697 (8th Cir. 1948):

“It must be borne in mind that the parties did not submit the case to the trial court on the merits. The decision of the trial court on granting the motion for preliminary injunction will not estop either of the parties on the trial of the case on the merits, nor would any determination of those questions by this court on appeal be binding on the trial court nor upon either of the parties in considering and determining the merits of the controversy. . . . [T]he decision of either the trial or appellate court in granting or denying the temporary injunction does not constitute the law of the ease and will not estop the parties nor the court as to the merits of the case.”

See also 7 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 65.21 (2d ed. 1971); Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. v. National Distillers & Chemical Corp., 354 F.2d 459, 463 (2d Cir. 1965); Hamilton Watch Co. v. Benrus Watch Co., 206 F.2d 738, 742 (2d Cir. 1953). An interlocutory decree forms the basis of a plea of res judicata only in those matters on which it renders a final disposition. IB Moore’s, supra, ¶ 409 [1] at 1002.

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59 F.R.D. 111, 16 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 931, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-north-american-research-development-nysd-1972.