United Liberty Life Insurance v. Pinnacle West Capital Corp.

149 F.R.D. 558, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1379, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8543
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedJune 8, 1993
DocketCiv. No. C-1-91-037
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 149 F.R.D. 558 (United Liberty Life Insurance v. Pinnacle West Capital Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Liberty Life Insurance v. Pinnacle West Capital Corp., 149 F.R.D. 558, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1379, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8543 (S.D. Ohio 1993).

Opinion

ORDER

CARL B. RUBIN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (case No. 91-3933) 985 F.2d 1320. There are two issues on remand. The first is whether the plaintiff has adequately stated a claim under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), thereby conferring jurisdiction under Section 27 of this Act. The second issue is whether venue should be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Subsequent to remand, the second issue has been addressed in defendants’ motion to transfer venue (doc. 55), plaintiffs response (doc. 58), and defendants’ reply (doc. 60). [560]*560For the reasons stated below, this court 1) finds that the plaintiff adequately stated a claim under the Exchange Act and 2) grants the defendants’ venue motion.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Defendant Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (“Pinnacle West”) is a savings and loan holding company. It is further an Arizona corporation with its principle place of business in Phoenix, Arizona. All other defendants in this action are either directors or officers of Pinnacle West. Each of these officers and directors are residents of Arizona.

Plaintiff United Liberty Life Insurance Company (“United Liberty”) is an Ohio corporation and has its principal place of business in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1987, United Liberty purchased debentures from MeraBank, an Arizona Savings bank wholly owned by Pinnacle West (at that time known as AZP Group, Inc.). This purchase was made through Pacholder, United Liberty’s financial advisor. MeraBank was later placed in receivership by the Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”). Consequently, the debentures became worthless.

United Liberty alleges that in purchasing the debentures, it relied on misleading disclosures in the financial statements of Pinnacle West and has brought this action claiming that Pinnacle West is guilty of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) violations, bond fraud, and consumer fraud under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.

In the plaintiffs appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from this Court’s order granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgement, the defendants argued that this Court lacked personal jurisdiction over this matter. The Court of Appeals found that if the plaintiff has adequately stated a claim under the Exchange Act, then this Court has personal jurisdiction under Section 27 of this Act.

PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS

The defendants argue that the plaintiff failed to state a claim since the amended complaint did not meet the requirement under Rule 9(b) that averments of fraud be stated with particularity (doc. 8). According to the defendants, sufficient particularity was lacking due to the plaintiffs failure to identify the time, place, and perpetrators of the alleged fraud.

The plaintiff argues that Rule 9(b) must be read in conjunction with Rule 8 which allows notice pleading (doc. 12). When these are read together, the plaintiff contends, a pleading is required only to give notice of the substance of the claim sufficient to allow the defendant to prepare responsive pleadings. The plaintiff states that this requirement was met by facts in the amended complaint detailing the nature, time, place, and manner of the alleged fraud and alleging intent, reliance and injury.

The Court of Appeals has instructed that if the plaintiff is found to have adequately stated a claim under the Securities Exchange Act, the district court has personal jurisdiction and should consider the issue of venue. The defendants argue that venue is improper in the Southern District of Ohio and thus under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) should be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona where venue is proper. They argue that venue is improper in Ohio under Section 27 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. § 78aa), under the venue provision of the RICO Act (18 U.S.C. § 1965(a)), and under the general federal venue provision (28 U.S.C. § 1391).

Venue is improper under these sections, according to the defendants, because the individual defendants inhabit Arizona and have no connection to Ohio; Pinnacle West is not “found” in Ohio and does not conduct business there; and, the only Ohio contact is the presence of Pinnacle West’s financial statements in Ohio. Although present in Ohio, these statements were not mailed into Ohio by Pinnacle West.

The plaintiff argues that there were two venue conferring actions in Ohio: 1) dissemination by the defendant of allegedly misleading information, and 2) the plaintiffs purchase of the debentures through Paceholder’s Ohio offices.

[561]*561 FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM

Rule 9(b) requires that fraud be pled “with particularity.” As the plaintiff argues, this Rule must be read in conjunction with Rule 8. Michaels Bldg. Co. v. Ameritrust Co., N.A., 848 F.2d 674, 679 (6th Cir.1988). Rule 8 allows notice pleading which requires that a pleading merely contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 8. When harmonized with Rule 8, Rule 9(b) requires that a pleading provide the defendant with notice of the substance of the claim sufficient to alert him to the nature of the claim. Id. at 679-80.

The Sixth Circuit has stated that Rule 9(b) allows courts an opportunity to terminate groundless litigation. Blount Financial Services v. Walter E. Heller & Co., 819 F.2d 151, 153 (6th Cir.1987). However, the Sixth Circuit has noted its reluctance to dismiss a .claim for failing to plead with particularity as long as the pleading shows that there is a reasonable basis for the claim pled. Michaels Bldg. Co., 848 F.2d at 680.

In the case at bar, the plaintiff claims that the defendants violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)). This section makes it unlawful to use manipulative or deceptive devices in the sale or purchase of securities. In the amended complaint (doc. 2), the plaintiff identified an allegedly deceptive device used by the defendant. The amended complaint also identified the device’s contents and its likely authors.

The device was identified by the plaintiff as the annual financial statements of Pinnacle West. The plaintiff contends that these statements misrepresented a stipulation made by Pinnacle West to the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”). According to the complaint, this stipulation required that Pinnacle West maintain the net worth of MeraBank. The plaintiff further claimed that some or all of the defendants participated in creating or approved the contents of the financial statements.

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149 F.R.D. 558, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1379, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-liberty-life-insurance-v-pinnacle-west-capital-corp-ohsd-1993.