T.J. Raney & Sons, Inc. v. Fort Cobb, Oklahoma Irrigation Fuel Authority

717 F.2d 1330, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 16576
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 26, 1983
DocketNo. 81-2270
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 717 F.2d 1330 (T.J. Raney & Sons, Inc. v. Fort Cobb, Oklahoma Irrigation Fuel Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
T.J. Raney & Sons, Inc. v. Fort Cobb, Oklahoma Irrigation Fuel Authority, 717 F.2d 1330, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 16576 (10th Cir. 1983).

Opinion

SETH, Chief Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s denial of the defendants' motion to decertify the underlying action as a class action. This question necessarily requires an answer as to whether this circuit should adopt some form of the fraud on the market theory in securities litigation arising under Rule 10b-5. See Bowe v. First of Denver Mortgage Investors, 562 F.2d 640 (10th Cir.1977), and West v. Capitol Federal Sav. and Loan Association, 558 F.2d 977 (10th Cir.1977).

The plaintiff, T.J. Raney & Sons, Inc., is a broker-dealer of securities. Raney was involved in the distribution of Series C bonds of the Fort Cobb, Oklahoma Irrigation Fuel Authority. The proceeds of the bonds were to be used for the construction or acquisition of a gas distribution facility.

Raney alleges that the bond proceeds were commingled with other funds of the project’s sponsors and were in fact never used for their intended purpose. Raney also claims that the bonds were not lawfully issued according to Oklahoma law. One of the defendants served as the Authority’s bond counsel and issued a bond opinion on the Series C bonds. Raney claims that the bond counsel recklessly passed on the validity of the bonds and thereafter concealed [1332]*1332the wrongful divergence of the bond proceeds. The Series C bonds went into default.

Raney seeks to represent all Series C bond purchasers in their claims against the Authority. Apparently there are approximately 60 Series C bondholders and the smallest claim is $5,000. The record discloses that the bondholders have varying degrees of investment experience and that the purchasers did not all receive the same information. Some received an allegedly mis-representational offering circular and the bond counsel’s opinion before purchasing. Others did not.

The defendants claim in this appeal that it was inappropriate for the trial court to certify the case as a class action because not all of the class members had relied on the circular and the bond opinion. The defendants further claim that Raney is not a suitable representative if the class was properly certified.

Traditionally a private action brought under SEC Rule 10b-5 is predicated on the plaintiff’s actual reliance on the defendant’s deception. Reliance is thus the causal nexus between the defendant’s conduct and the plaintiff’s injury. Actionable conduct under Rule 10b-5 can be accomplished either by misrepresentation or nondisclosure. In traditional cases of misrepresentation the reliance requirement is met upon proof that “ ‘the misrepresentation is a substantial factor in determining the course of conduct which results in ... loss.’ ” Mitchell v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co., 446 F.2d 90, 102 (10th Cir.1971), quoting List v. Fashion Park, Inc., 340 F.2d 457, 462 (2d Cir.1965).

Recently, several courts have adopted a theory which allows a plaintiff to rely on the integrity of the market rather than requiring direct reliance on the defendant’s conduct. See, e.g., Panzirer v. Wolf, 663 F.2d 365 (2d Cir.1981); Shores v. Sklar, 647 F.2d 462 (5th Cir.1981) (en banc); Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F,2d 891 (9th Cir.1975). Subjective reliance on particular misrepresentations is thus not a distinct element of proof of 10b-5 claims. Blackie, supra, at 905, 906.

The theory is grounded on the assumption that the market price reflects all known material information. Material misinformation will theoretically cause the artificial inflation or deflation of the stock price. At its simplest the theory requires only that a plaintiff prove purchase of a security and that a material misrepresentation was made concerning the security by the defendant which resulted in an artificial change in price.

The majority of cases which accept some form of fraud on the market theory have concerned securities traded on impersonal, actively traded markets. See, e.g., Panzirer v. Wolf, 663 F.2d 365 (2d Cir.1981); Zweig v. Hearst Corp., 594 F.2d 1261 (9th Cir.1979); Blackie v. Barrack, 524 F.2d 891 (9th Cir.1975); In re LTV Securities Litigation, 88 F.R.D. 134 (N.D.Tex.1980). Those cases thus argue for adoption of the fraud on the market theory in those situations in which developed securities are actively traded. A leading case to examine the fraud arising from bonds which were not lawfully issued is Shores v. Sklar, 647 F.2d 462 (5th Cir.1981). The en banc court was almost equally divided. In Shores, the plaintiff purchased industrial revenue bonds. The Fifth Circuit held that although the plaintiff could not rely on the offering circular as he had not read it, he nevertheless under his allegations of fraud was entitled to 10b-5 relief if he could prove “that (1) the defendants knowingly conspired to bring securities onto the market which were not entitled to be marketed, intending to defraud purchasers, (2) [the plaintiff] reasonably relied on the Bonds’ availability on the market as an indication of their apparent genuineness, and (3) as a result of the scheme to defraud [the plaintiff] suffered a loss.” 647 F.2d, at 469-70.

In Arthur Young & Co. v. United States District Court, 549 F.2d 686 (9th Cir.1977), the court allowed the petitioners to proceed under the theory that “but for” causation was satisfied by the petitioners’ reliance on the integrity of the regulatory process. [1333]*1333The court allowed submission of SEC disclosure filings connected with the offering of the limited partnership interests for reliance on market integrity. It there said, 549 F.2d at 695: “[T]he purchaser of an original issue security relies, at least indirectly, on the integrity of the regulatory process and the truth of any representations made to the appropriate agencies and the investors at the time of the original issue.”

The courts have not been unanimous in extending a fraud on the market theory to newly issued securities. In Vervaecke v. Chiles, Heider & Co., 578 F.2d 713 (8th Cir.1978), the court held that the plaintiff had to prove reliance on misrepresentations allegedly occurring in the offering circular of certain unregistered municipal bonds in order to be entitled to 10b-5 relief.

This circuit has not yet addressed the fraud on the market theory. Our case of Zobrist v. Coal-X, Inc.,

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Bluebook (online)
717 F.2d 1330, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 16576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tj-raney-sons-inc-v-fort-cobb-oklahoma-irrigation-fuel-authority-ca10-1983.