Wilson v. Tully

243 A.D.2d 229, 676 N.Y.S.2d 531, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7319
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 18, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 243 A.D.2d 229 (Wilson v. Tully) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Tully, 243 A.D.2d 229, 676 N.Y.S.2d 531, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7319 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Andrias, J.

The issue in this stockholder’s derivative action is whether plaintiffs’ failure to demand, prior to suit, that Merrill Lynch’s board of directors take some action on their complaint is fatal to their action.

The complaint asserts three causes of action: (1) intentional and/or reckless breaches of the defendant directors’ fiduciary duties to the Company and its shareholders, (2) indemnification, and (3) waste. It alleges, in pertinent part, that one of Merrill Lynch’s brokers, defendant Michael Stamenson, became an investment advisor to the Treasurer-Tax Collector of Orange County, California, and, as a result, Merrill Lynch sold Orange County $4.9 billion in derivative instruments, defined by plaintiffs as financial arrangements in which the payoff is linked to, or derives from, the performance of some underlying security such as stocks, bonds or other assets. Eighty per cent of the derivatives were “inverse floaters”, which pay a floating rate of interest inversely related to a benchmark or index rate. Thus, when the applicable index rate goes down, the floating rate increases along with the value of the inverse floater and vice versa.

[231]*231It is alleged that to enable Orange County to leverage its portfolio, ultimately to $20.6 billion, Merrill Lynch also entered into “reverse repurchase agreements” (reverse repos) with the County, whereby the investor uses a combination of invested cash and loan proceeds to buy additional securities, using the securities themselves as collateral for the transaction. Due to increases in interest rates beginning in late 1993 and particularly after February 1994, the value of Orange County’s portfolio declined sharply and it sustained losses totalling approximately $2 billion. As a result, the County and its Investment Pools filed for bankruptcy on December 6, 1994.

The complaint further alleges that defendant directors knew or should have known that in the early 1980’s Merrill Lynch, through, inter alia, Stamenson, along with numerous other Wall Street brokerage firms, had sold the City of San Jose virtually identical highly leveraged securities, which, as the result of a sharp increase in interest rates in 1984, resulted in a $60 million loss. San Jose sued Merrill Lynch and 12 other brokerage houses and Merrill Lynch later contributed $750,000 to a $26 million fund to settle the lawsuit against it and the other brokerage firms.

It is also alleged that, in 1993, Merrill Lynch made the “extraordinary’ decision to offer to buy Orange Countys entire derivative portfolio for $3.5 billion, which offer was refused in a letter from Orange County’s Treasurer in which he stated that “it was only after extensive consultation with highly placed Merrill Lynch officials by conference call, in person, and in writing well over a year ago that we felt secure in investing an even larger percentage of our portfolio in derivatives securities.”

Plaintiffs allege that the defendant directors ignored or failed in their fiduciary duty to be apprised of the foregoing and other “red flags” and, knowing the extent of Orange County’s reliance on Merrill Lynch, defendant board knew or recklessly disregarded Merrill Lynch’s fiduciary duty, as Orange Countys investment advisor, not to sell it any more unsuitable securities or loan it more capital to leverage Orange Countys assets in anticipation of decreasing interest rates.

The IAS Court, in granting defendants’ motion to dismiss for plaintiffs’ failure to make the prelitigation demand required by Delaware Rules of Chancery Court, rule 23.1, held that plaintiffs’ conclusory allegations, unsupported by allegations of specific fact, were insufficient to establish that such a demand would have been futile. We agree.

[232]*232The law of Delaware, the State of Merrill Lynch’s incorporation, is controlling (see, Hart v General Motors Corp., 129 AD2d 179, 182-183, lv denied 70 NY2d 608, citing Diamond v Oreamuno, 24 NY2d 494, 503-504) and, under Delaware law, as elsewhere, the requirement of a demand upon directors of a corporation to pursue a derivative complaint is a recognition of the inherent powers of the board to manage the affairs of the corporation, which includes making decisions about whether or not to pursue such litigation (Zapata Corp. v Maldonado, 430 A2d 779, 782 [Del]). The Delaware Supreme Court has observed that, as here, stockholders often do not make such demand, but instead bring suit, claiming that demand is excused. However, it stated: “Because such derivative suits challenge the propriety of decisions made by directors pursuant to their managerial authority, we have repeatedly held that the stockholder plaintiffs must overcome the powerful presumptions of the business judgment rule before they will be permitted to pursue the derivative claim” (Rales v Blasband, 634 A2d 927, 933 [Del] [citations omitted]).

Although no demand will be required where it would be futile, the Delaware Supreme Court has held, in Aronson v Lewis (473 A2d 805, 812 [Del]), that “the entire question of demand futility is inextricably bound to issues of business judgment and the standards of that doctrine’s applicability. The business judgment rule is an acknowledgement of the managerial prerogatives of Delaware directors * * * [and] is a presumption that in making a business decision the directors of a corporation acted on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the company” (citations omitted). Proper business judgment includes both substantive due care (the terms of the transaction) and procedural due care (an informed decision) (Grobow v Perot, 539 A2d 180, 189 [Del]).

Approval of a transaction by a majority of independent, disinterested directors almost always bolsters a presumption that the business judgment rule attaches to transactions approved by a board of directors that are later attacked on grounds of lack of due care. In such cases, a heavy burden falls on a plaintiff to avoid presuit demand (Grobow v Perot, supra, at 190).

Where, as here, there is no claim that a majority of the defendant directors are not disinterested and independent, “the mere threat of personal liability for approving a questioned transaction, standing alone, is insufficient to challenge either [233]*233the independence or disinterestedness of directors, although in rare cases a transaction may be so egregious on its face that board approval cannot meet the test of business judgment, and a substantial likelihood of director liability therefore exists” (Aronson v Lewis, supra, at 815).

Likewise, where the certificate of incorporation exempts directors from liability, the risk of liability does not disable them from considering a demand fairly unless particularized pleading permits the court to conclude that there is a substantial likelihood that their conduct, such as bad faith, intentional misconduct, knowing violation of law, or any other conduct for which the directors may be liable, falls outside the exemption (In re Baxter Intl., Inc. Shareholders Litig., 654 A2d 1268, 1270 [Del]).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Aareal Capital Corp. v. 462BDWY Land, L.P.
2024 NY Slip Op 33576(U) (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2024)
Tandym Group, LLC v. Mission Staffing Inc.
2024 NY Slip Op 32960(U) (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2024)
Brand Squared LLC v. Ryse Up Sports Nutrition, LLC
2024 NY Slip Op 31031(U) (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2024)
People v. Mashinsky
New York Supreme Court, 2023
Max v. ALP, Inc.
203 A.D.3d 580 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2022)
Security Police & Fire Professionals of America Retirement Fund v. Mack
93 A.D.3d 562 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2012)
David Shaev Profit Sharing Account v. Cayne
24 A.D.3d 154 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2005)
Opinion No. (2005)
Oklahoma Attorney General Reports, 2005
Simon v. Becherer
7 A.D.3d 66 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
Richbell Information Services, Inc. v. Jupiter Partners, L.P.
309 A.D.2d 288 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
Kimeldorf v. First Union Real Estate Equity & Mortgage Investments
309 A.D.2d 151 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
Wilmoth v. Sandor
259 A.D.2d 252 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
Miller v. Schreyer
257 A.D.2d 358 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
243 A.D.2d 229, 676 N.Y.S.2d 531, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-tully-nyappdiv-1998.