Dasho v. Susquehanna Corporation

Decision Date26 June 1972
Docket NumberNo. 18572.,18572.
Citation461 F.2d 11
PartiesWilliam DASHO et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The SUSQUEHANNA CORPORATION et al., Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

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Max E. Wildman, Adolf Loeb, Sheldon P. Migdal, Lawrence Jacobson, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Charles S. Rhyne, Courts Oulahan, Winston M. Haythe, Rhyne & Rhyne, Washington, D.C., Milton H. Cohen, Mitchell S. Rieger, William T. Hart, Allan Horwich, Schiff Hardin Waite Dorschel & Britton, Robert O. Mansell, Quinn, Jacobs, Barry & Foster, Samuel Weisbard, Stephen C. Sandels, McDermott, Will & Emery, Robert W. Black, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before FAIRCHILD, CUMMINGS and STEVENS, Circuit Judges.

Certiorari Denied June 26, 1972. See 92 S.Ct. 2496, 2498.

STEVENS, Circuit Judge.

American Gypsum Company was merged into Susquehanna Corporation on December 13, 1965. Plaintiffs, as shareholders of Susquehanna, commenced this action in advance of the merger for the purpose of preventing its consummation and also to recover damages for Susquehanna and its pre-merger shareholders. The district court refused to enjoin the merger and dismissed Count I of the complaint which asserted claims under § 17(a) of the Securities Act of 19331 and § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.2 Proceedings under Count II, which asserted that the pre-merger proxy solicitation violated § 14(a) of the 1934 Act,3 were apparently stayed pending the appeal to this court from the dismissal of Count I.

Count I alleged that Susquehanna had been harmed not only by the merger but also by an earlier purchase of 222,107 of its own shares at an excessive price. We held that the allegations of fraud or deception in connection with each of these securities transactions were sufficient to state a federal claim under § 17(a) and § 10(b). Dasho v. Susquehanna Corporation, 380 F.2d 262 (7th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, Bard v. Dasho, 389 U.S. 977, 88 S.Ct. 480, 19 L.Ed.2d 470.

Following the remand, there were protracted proceedings in the district court. Count II of the complaint was reinstated, defendants answered, portions of their answers were stricken, extensive discovery was conducted, plaintiffs' request for a jury trial was denied, they amended their complaint, plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed three defendants, the court held a lengthy trial, and thereafter plaintiffs filed still another amended complaint to conform their final theories of the case to the proof. In that pleading they abandoned all charges of conspiracy.

The district court entered extensive findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment for the defendants on all claims. On this appeal plaintiffs contend that it was error to strike their jury demand, that the district court misconceived their theory of the case, that critical findings are clearly erroneous, and that vital evidence was improperly excluded. The threshold question is whether Ross v. Bernhard, 396 U.S. 531, 90 S.Ct. 733, 24 L.Ed.2d 729, which was decided by the Supreme Court after the trial was concluded, requires us to hold that it was error to deny plaintiffs a jury trial. Since we have concluded that it does, we must also identify the issues which should be submitted to a jury for determination when the case is remanded for a new trial.

Before discussing the legal issues, we shall identify the defendants and describe the three securities transactions which gave rise to plaintiffs' derivative action.

I.

Susquehanna is a large publicly owned corporation. In April and May of 1965 its shares were traded over the counter in the range between a low bid of 11½ and a high asked price of 14 1/8. At the time of its annual meeting on April 19, 1965, approximately 2,760,000 shares were outstanding, owned by some 8,750 stockholders. At that meeting 15 directors were elected, 13 proposed by management and 2 by a group in Kansas City who had cumulated their votes to oppose the management slate. The 13 management directors, led by J. Patrick Lannan, the chairman of the board, owned or controlled about 436,000 shares; however, substantial additional amounts of Susquehanna stock were owned by friends or associates of the 13 management directors and by the Kansas City group represented by the two dissidents.

Prior to May 25, 1965, neither American Gypsum Company, over half of whose shares were controlled by defendant Herbert F. Korholz, nor Korholz himself, owned any Susquehanna stock. After consummation of the three transactions which plaintiffs challenge, Korholz had become Susquehanna's principal shareholder, and the management directors, as well as the Kansas City group, had sold a major portion of their holdings.

On May 25, 1965, Korholz purchased 430,000 shares from Lannan, certain management directors, and their friends and relatives at a price of $15 per share. On August 11, 1965, in a transaction negotiated by Korholz, Susquehanna purchased 222,107 of its own shares from the Kansas City group at a price of either $13.85 or $10.78 per share, depending on whether plaintiffs' or defendants' version of the transaction is accepted. On December 13, 1965, to consummate the merger with Gypsum, Susquehanna issued 1,274,734 shares to the former shareholders of Gypsum, including Korholz, in an exchange which was based on a determination that Susquehanna's stock had a fair value of $10.75 per share. One of the assets acquired by Susquehanna via the merger was the block of 430,000 of its own shares which Korholz had purchased from Lannan and thereafter conveyed to Gypsum; one of the liabilities was the bank indebtedness of $6,450,000 which Gypsum had incurred to finance the 430,000 share purchase.

The defendants may be identified in four groups: The Lannan defendants who sold out and resigned from the board in May or shortly thereafter;4 the eight members of Lannan's board who remained as directors and shareholders after he sold out;5 the two dissidents representing the Kansas City group;6 and Korholz and his associates.7 Since plaintiffs' conspiracy charge has been abandoned, the different defendants obviously do not share equal responsibility for each of the three transactions which took place on May 25, August 11, and December 13, 1965. Although these transactions were not unrelated, we shall describe them separately.

1. The purchase of 430,000 shares by Korholz on May 25, 1965, was the consequence of discussions between Korholz and representatives of Lannan earlier that month. The price of $15 per share was about $3.00 over the market when it was agreed upon, subject to certain conditions. Korholz's offer was conditioned upon the resignation of five members of the Susquehanna board, including Lannan, the election of Korholz as chairman of the board of directors and as a member of the Executive Committee, and the election of two Korholz nominees (Nielsen and Hardin) to the Susquehanna board.

The offer was communicated to all 13 management directors, but not to the two dissidents or to the public. The five directors who were to resign sold their Susquehanna stock; the remaining directors made significant contributions to the 430,000 share package, either from their own holdings or from stock owned by friends and relatives,8 but each retained an investment in Susquehanna.9 Before they voted to elect Korholz, Nielsen, and Hardin to the Susquehanna board, the remaining directors had been advised about the business experience and integrity of the new directors and presumably also knew that the sale of the 430,000 shares at the $15 price was contingent upon their election.

The district court found, however, that the old directors were not aware of the fact that Korholz was making the purchase on behalf of Gypsum rather than as an individual investment. He made the offer and closed the transaction in his individual capacity because Gypsum was disabled from obtaining the necessary financing without the consent of two insurance companies to which it owed several million dollars. Korholz had received informal assurance that such consents would be forthcoming and, therefore, had been able to borrow $6,450,000 from The First National Bank of Boston on the understanding that Gypsum would assume that indebtedness and acquire the 430,000 shares of Susquehanna as soon as conditions specified by the insurance companies had been met. Those conditions included the election of Korholz as chairman and two of his designees as members of Susquehanna's board of directors, and an assurance from Gypsum that if it were merged into Susquehanna, the merged company would promptly repay the bank loan of $6,450,000.

It is apparent that Korholz, Gypsum, and The First National Bank of Boston were conscious of the fact that Susquehanna's current assets exceeded its total liabilities by over $13,000,000 when the funds to finance the 430,000 share purchase were advanced. The management directors of Susquehanna apparently knew little more than that Korholz, a capable and imaginative executive, was prepared to pay a premium price of $15 per share for about 15% of Susquehanna's stock and to accept a position of major responsibility in the direction of the corporation's affairs.

Precisely what public announcement of the transaction was made is not clear from the record. The district court found that "when the information as to facts was publicly released promptly after the May 18 board meeting, there was no effect whatsoever on the price of Susquehanna in the over-the-counter market."

The first transaction resulted in a significant change in the ownership of Susquehanna's stock and in the composition of its management, but it had no direct impact on the corporation's assets, liabilities, or capital structure. The balance sheet of Gypsum, however, was materially affected as soon as the...

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