Thompson v. Battle

54 F.R.D. 222, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11599
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 20, 1971
DocketNo. 70 C 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 54 F.R.D. 222 (Thompson v. Battle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson v. Battle, 54 F.R.D. 222, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11599 (N.D. Ill. 1971).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PARSONS, District Judge.

This is an action for damages by plaintiff, Walter T. Thompson, suing on his own behalf, against both Major Enterprises, Inc., of the District of Columbia, and Major Enterprises, Inc.,.of the State of Delaware, and several of said corporations’ directors and officers, based on alleged violations of federal securities laws. The claim purportedly arises out of transactions occurring therein and subsequent to a May 1969 Chicago meeting held by defendants and to which plaintiff and other prospective buyers were invited. Plaintiff alleges, inter alia, fraud, misrepresentation, the use of false and misleading statements, and unjust enrichment of the various defendants in violation of the Securities Act of 1933, § 12(2), 15 U.S.C. § 77 1(2); Securities Exchange Act of 1934, § 10(b), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and SEC Regulation 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5. Jurisdiction for the statutory claims is based on 15 U.S.C. § 77v(a) and 15 U. S.C. § 78aa.

Defendants Mark Battle, A. Fred Freedman, Clement Theodore Cooper, Mark Sandground, Daniel Harley, Robert E. Krisoff, Adolph J. Slaughter, Desmond H. Sealy, Marion R. Harris and Willie P. Freeman move the Court to quash service and to dismiss the action for lack of personal jurisdiction.

In Drake v. Thor Power Tool Company, 282 F.Supp. 94, 97 (N.D.Ill.1967), I observed that “whether Congress intended that an implied private civil remedy exists with reference to 10(b), 15 U.S.C. § 78j, and Rule 10b-5 is questionable, [citations omitted.] Nevertheless, beginning with Judge Kirkpatrick’s opinion in Kardon v. National Gypsum Co., 73 F.Supp. 798 (E.D.Pa.1947) the courts have consistently found that Section 10 (b) and Rule 10b-5 imply a remedy for private relief. The issue is no longer raised in litigation.” (citations omitted.) That the 1933 Securities Act was drafted for the protection of buyers, while the 1934 Securities Exchange Act extended protection to sellers, is already well settled. Id. at 99. Following the Kardon decision, the question arose as to whether 10b-5 applied only to sellers, or to both sellers and buyers. Id.

I concluded after my extensive discussion of that question in Drake v. Thor Power Tool Company, supra, at 103, 104, that the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 applied to securities trading as contrasted to securities distribution, and, in that context, the anti-fraud provisions, including § 10(b) prohibiting use of manipulative or deceptive devices or contrivances, and Rule 10b-5 describing in detail certain unlawful actions in relation to securities, applied equally to fraudulent sellers and buyers. In addition, Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 were aimed at prohibiting fraudulent schemes in trading in securities and were designed in protecting both investors and the public interest. Plaintiff, as an investor and buyer, falls within the penumbra of those conclusions.

Defendants do not challenge plaintiff’s right to bring this civil action, but only challenge the service of process.

[225]*225As stated in Securities and Exchange Com’n v. Dumont Corporation, 49 F.R.D. 342, 344 (S.D.N.Y.1969) :

“When service of process is challenged, the court is faced with answering two principal questions. Is the court authorized to allow plaintiff to serve an out-of-state defendant? If so, was the manner of service proper?”

In the case before the Court, the answer to both questions is yes, because a federal statute authorizes nationwide service in this type of action and because the manner of service conformed to the manner prescribed in Rule 4(e).

Jurisdiction of this action is based on the Securities Act of 1933, § 22(a), 15 U.S.C. § 77v(a), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, § 27, 15 U. S.C. § 78aa, which authorize extraterritorial service of process on nonresident defendants in any district of which defendant is an inhabitant. Cooper v. North Jersey Trust Company, 250 F.Supp. 237 (S.D.N.Y.1965).

Defendants have been served in the district in which they were found, i. e., the District of Columbia.

The only remaining question is whether the manner of service was proper. Neither of the two aforementioned federal statutes authorizing extraterritorial service prescribe the manner of service. In such a case the manner must be in accordance with the Federal Rules. Rule 4(e) states:

“Whenever a statute of the United States * * * proyides for service of a summons * * * upon a party not an inhabitant of or found within the state in which the district court is held, service may be made under the circumstances and in the manner prescribed by the statute * * * or, if there is no provision therein prescribing the manner of service, in a manner stated in this rule. * * * ”

When a defendant has not been personally served, as in the case before this Court, Rule 4(d) (7) governs, which allows the summons and complaint to follow the manner prescribed by the state law in which the district court is held. Here, that means Illinois State law. Service of process was made by plaintiff in accordance with both the dictates of the Civil Practice Act of 1933, Ill.Rev.Stat.1971, ch. 110, § 1, and the provision of the Illinois Securities Law of 1953, Ill.Rev.Stat.1971, ch. 121%, § 137.10(B) (2).

Chapter 110, Section 1, of the Civil Practice Act of 1933, supra, states in part that “ * * * In all those proceedings [proceedings in which the procedure is regulated by separate statutes] the separate statutes control to the extent to which they, regulate procedure, but this Act applies as to matters of procedure not so regulated by separate statutes. * * * ”

Section 137.10(B) (2), a provision of the Illinois Securities Law of 1953, smpra, which is a separate statute regulating its own procedure, states in part that “service of process under this Subsection 10(B) shall be made by serving a copy upon the Secretary of State or any employee in his office designated by him to accept such service for him, provided notice of such and a copy of the process are, within ten days thereafter, sent by registered mail by the plaintiff to the defendant, at the last known address of the said defendant, . . . ”

Since plaintiff complied with these statutory provisions, service was proper.

Defendants also contend that the allegations in the amended complaint are not sufficient contact with this forum district to give the Court jurisdiction.

In matters involving jurisdictional disputes, each count of the complaint must be considered separately. Jack O’Donnell Chevrolet, Inc. v. Shankles, 276 F.Supp. 998 (N.D.Ill.1967).

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Burkhart v. Allson Realty Trust
363 F. Supp. 1286 (N.D. Illinois, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 F.R.D. 222, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-battle-ilnd-1971.