State ex rel. Oregon State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

346 P.3d 504, 269 Or. App. 31, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 145
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 11, 2015
Docket050808454; A139453
StatusPublished

This text of 346 P.3d 504 (State ex rel. Oregon State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Oregon State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., 346 P.3d 504, 269 Or. App. 31, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 145 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DUNCAN, P. J.

In State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., 241 Or App 107, 250 P3d 371 (2011) CMarsh I), we held that a stock purchaser seeking to recover under ORS 59.137 for securities law violations must prove direct reliance rather than utilize a presumption of reliance under the “fraud-on-the-market” doctrine recognized under federal securities law. The Supreme Court subsequently reversed our decision, concluding that the Oregon legislature intended to incorporate the fraud-on-the-market doctrine when it enacted ORS 59.137. State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., 353 Or 1, 23, 292 P3d 525 (2012) {Marsh II). The Supreme Court then remanded the case to us to consider two questions that, because of our rejection of the fraud-on-the-market doctrine, we had not reached in Marsh I. The first is whether, on the summary judgment record, defendants successfully rebutted any presumption of reliance. The second is whether, as applied to defendants, ORS 59.137 is unconstitutional because it does not require plaintiff to prove scienter — that is, that defendants acted with a guilty state of mind when they made the alleged misrepresentations. For the reasons that follow, we hold (1) that there are genuine issues of material fact with regard to whether defendants rebutted the presumption of reliance; and (2) ORS 59.137 includes a scienter requirement and is not unconstitutional as applied to defendants. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises under the Oregon Securities Law, ORS chapter 59. Plaintiff is the State of Oregon, acting by and through the Oregon State Treasurer, and the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Board, on behalf of the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund (OPERF) (collectively, “the state”). In its complaint, the state alleged that defendants Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. and Marsh, Inc. (collectively, “Marsh”) violated ORS 59.135 by making false and misleading statements that caused the state to lose approximately $10 million on investments in Marsh stock, and that those defendants were therefore liable under ORS [34]*3459.137. The Supreme Court summarized those claims in Marsh II:

“The state’s amended complaint alleges that the state purchased more than $15 million of common stock in [Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC)] in the open market on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2003 and 2004. The state further alleges that the MMC shares are traded on an efficient securities market, that the price of MMC shares traded on the NYSE during 2003 and 2004 reflected the material information that Marsh disclosed to the market, and that the price of MMC shares was artificially inflated because of misrepresentations made by Marsh. The state contends that Marsh made three types of misrepresentations: falsely representing that Marsh had complied with a strict ethical code of conduct; misrepresenting the nature of contingent commission agreements that Marsh had with brokers; and concealing the fact that MMC’s reported financial results had been achieved through unethical and illegal business practices. The state’s complaint further alleges that the state’s money managers who purchased MMC stock had no reason to know of those misrepresentations and would not have purchased the MMC stock at the price paid had they known of those misrepresentations. Finally, the state asserts that the misrepresentations were brought to light through an investigation by the New York Attorney General and that, once the misrepresentations were disclosed in October 2004, the price of MMC stock declined some 37 percent causing the state to lose approximately $10 million in damages.”

Marsh II, 353 Or at 4.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Marsh on all of the state’s claims. The court’s ruling was based on two alternative grounds. First, the court ruled that, as applied to Marsh, ORS 59.137 was unconstitutional under the so-called dormant Commerce Clause, insofar as the state was not required to prove that Marsh acted with scienter. Second, the court ruled that the state had failed to prove the element of reliance, in part because the state was not entitled to a rebuttable presumption of reliance under a “fraud-on-the-market” theory. In short, that doctrine

“refers to a rebuttable presumption establishing the reliance element in securities fraud cases that was addressed [35]*35and accepted by the United States Supreme Court in Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 US 224, 247, 108 S Ct 978, 99 L Ed 2d 194 (1988). The doctrine is grounded in the theory that the price of a security traded on the open market is based on publicly available information and that material misrepresentations therefore artificially distort a security’s price, thereby establishing indirect or second-order reliance by a purchaser of the security, even if that purchaser did not rely on the misrepresentations directly.”

Marsh II, 353 Or at 3 n 1. The trial court ruled that the state failed to prove reliance under the fraud-on-the-market theory, both because the doctrine is not available under Oregon law and because, in any event, Marsh had rebutted the presumption.

In Marsh I, we affirmed the trial court on the narrow grounds that the state had not produced any evidence of direct reliance and that Oregon law does not recognize a presumption of reliance under the fraud-on-the-market doctrine. We did not address whether, if that doctrine were available, Marsh had rebutted it. We also declined to address the court’s alternative reasoning regarding the existence and constitutional implications of a scienter requirement, other than to note in passing that the constitutional question was properly analyzed under preemption principles rather than the dormant Commerce Clause. 241 Or App at 112 n 3.

In Marsh II, the Supreme Court reversed our decision and held that “the requisite reliance [under ORS 59.137] may be established by a plaintiff who purchases stock in an open and efficient market by means of the rebut-table presumption available under the fraud-on-the-market doctrine.” 353 Or at 23. The court then remanded the case to us to address two unresolved issues that flowed from that holding: First, notwithstanding the availability of the fraud-on-the-market doctrine, should Marsh prevail because the evidence in the record successfully rebutted the presumption of reliance? 353 Or at 21 n 8. Second, is ORS 59.137 “unconstitutional because it does not contain a requirement that the defendant act with scienter to be found liable”? Id. at 23 n 10.

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Related

Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder
425 U.S. 185 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Aaron v. Securities & Exchange Commission
446 U.S. 680 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Basic Inc. v. Levinson
485 U.S. 224 (Supreme Court, 1988)
State Treasurer v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
292 P.3d 525 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2012)
ZRZ Realty Co. v. Beneficial Fire & Casualty Insurance
241 P.3d 710 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Gaines
206 P.3d 1042 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2009)
Outdoor Media Dimensions Inc. v. State
20 P.3d 180 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2001)
Prince v. Brydon
764 P.2d 1370 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1988)
Anderson v. Carden
934 P.2d 562 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1997)
Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc.
134 S. Ct. 2398 (Supreme Court, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
346 P.3d 504, 269 Or. App. 31, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-oregon-state-treasurer-v-marsh-mclennan-companies-inc-orctapp-2015.