In re Kauffman Mutual Fund Actions

• Citation: 479 F.2d 257
• Decision Date: 14 May 1973
• Docket Number: No. 72-1288.,72-1288.
• Parties: In re KAUFFMAN MUTUAL FUND ACTIONS. Joseph B. Kauffman, Plaintiff-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

479 F.2d 257 (1973)

In re KAUFFMAN MUTUAL FUND ACTIONS.

Joseph B. Kauffman, Plaintiff-Appellant.

No. 72-1288.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Argued January 4, 1973.

Decided May 14, 1973.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William T. Coleman, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., with whom Bruce W. Kauffman, David H. Pittinsky, Lawrence Berger, Aaron M. Fine, Philadelphia, Pa., Joseph B. Kauffman, Atlantic City, N. J., Dilworth, Paxon, Kalish, Levy & Coleman, Harold E. Kohn, Philadelphia, Pa., were on brief, for appellant.

Lawrence T. Perera, and Sumner H. Babcock, Boston, Mass., with whom the following attorneys were on briefs, for appellees: Boston Fund, Inc., William J. Speers, Jr., Samuel Adams, Warner & Stackpole, Boston, Mass.; Boston Management & Research Co., Inc., Vance, Sanders & Co., Inc., Gael Mahony, Reginald C. Lindsay, Hill & Barlow, Boston, Mass.; The Colonial Fund, Inc., Lewis H. Weinstein, John Paul Sullivan, Christian M. Hoffman, Foley, Hoag & Eliot, Boston, Mass.; Colonial Management Associates, Inc., James H. Orr, John R. Hally, Nutter, McClennen & Fish, Boston, Mass.; Eaton & Howard Stock Fund, Eaton & Howard Balanced Fund, Thomas D. Burns, Erik Lund, Burns & Levinson, Boston, Mass.; Eaton & Howard, Inc., Charles F. Eaton, Jr., John F. Groden, John M. Reed, Withington, Cross, Park & Groden, Boston, Mass.; Fidelity Fund, Inc., Fidelity Capital Fund, Inc., Puritan Fund, Inc., Salem Fund, Inc. (formerly Dow Theory Investment Fund, Inc.), John J. Curtin, Jr., Richard F. McCarthy, Bingham, Dana & Gould, Boston, Mass.; Fidelity Management & Research Co., Edward C. Johnson 2d, Edward B. Hanify, George T. Finnegan, Ropes & Gray, Joseph P. Rooney, Ansel B. Chaplin, Roreg M. Barzun, Gaston, Snow, Motley & Holt, Boston, Mass.; Fidelity Trend Fund, Inc., Patrick T. Ryan, Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Philadelphia, Pa.; Keystone Custodian Funds, Inc., Wilfred Godfrey, Franklin R. Johnson, Boston, Mass.; Marvin Schwartz, Richard E. Carlton, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York City; Loomis-Sayles Mutual Fund, Inc., Daniel B. Bickford, Ely, Bartlett, Brown & Proctor, Boston, Mass.; Loomis-Sayles & Co., Inc., Maurice T. Freeman, Samuel Hoar, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, Mass.; Massachusetts Fund, Daniel F. Featherston, Jr., Featherston, Homans & Klubock, Boston, Mass.; The Massachusetts Co., Inc., Henry R. Guild, Richard F. Barrett, Douglas Danner, Powers & Hall, Boston, Mass.; Pioneer Fund, Inc., C. Thomas Swaim, Sherburne, Powers & Needham, Boston, Mass.; Pioneer Management Corp., Philip L. Carret, Jerome P. Facher, Hale & Dorr, Boston, Mass.; The Putnam Growth Fund, The George Putnam Fund of Boston, Putnam Investors Fund, Inc., Jeffrey Swope, Palmer & Dodge, Boston, Mass.; Putnam Management Co., Inc., Charles M. Werly, Samuel E. Gates, Steven A. Schatten, Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates, New York City; Van Strum & Towne, Inc., Isaac Shapiro, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, New York City; Bullock Fund, Ltd., Dividend Shares, Inc., Stephen R. Steinberg, Reavis & McGrath, New York City; Chemical Fund, Inc., E. Roger Frisch, Walsh & Frisch, New York City; Calvin Bullock, Ltd., Hugh Bullock, F. Eberstadt & Co., Francis S. Williams, Distributors Group, Inc., Herbert R. Anderson, Marvin Schwartz, Richard E. Carlton, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York City; Energy Fund, Inc., Ralph E. Samuel & Co., Donald C. Samuel, Larry M. Lavinsky, Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, New York City; Investment Co. Inst., Edgar H. Brenner, Jeffrey A. Burt, Arnold & Porter, Washington, D. C.; Manhattan Fund, Inc., Paul M. O'Connor, Jr., Whitman & Ransom, New York City; Tsai Management & Research Corp., W. Foster Wollen, Shearman & Sterling, New York City; State Street Investment Corp., Federal Street Fund, Inc., Haskell Cohn, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Glovsky & Popeo, Boston, Mass.; State Street Research & Management Company, Paul C. Cabot, Harold M. Willcox, Norman A. Hubley, Herrick, Smith, Donald, Farley & Ketchum, Boston, Mass.; Wellington Fund, Inc., Windsor Fund, Inc., Wellington Management Co., Walter L. Morgan, Robert M. Buchanan, Charles C. Cabot, Jr., Sullivan & Worcester, Boston, Mass.; Affiliated Fund, Inc., Edward J. Ross, Breed, Abbott & Morgan, New York City; Lord, Abbett & Co., Robert S. Driscoll, Judson A. Parsons, Jr., Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, New York City; Axe-Houghton Fund B, Inc., Scudder, Stevens & Clark Common Stock Fund, Inc., Scudder, Stevens & Clark Balanced Fund, Inc., Channing Shares, Inc., Channing Growth Fund, Channing Balanced Fund, Michael O. Finkelstein, Barrett, Smith, Schapiro & Simon, New York City; E. W. Axe & Co., Inc., Louis K. Hyde, Jr., Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Ronald T. Lyman, Jr., Samuel E. Gates, Steven A. Schatten, Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates, New York City; Gerald Tsai, Jr., David Hartfield, Jr., White & Case, New York City; National Securities Series, National Securities Stock Series, National Securities Growth Series, Thomas B. Fenlon, Emmett, Marvin & Martin, New York City; National Securities & Research Corp., Philip C. Smith, Robert J. Sisk, Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, New York City; The Dreyfus Fund, Inc., The Dreyfus Corp., Howard M. Stein, Stuart A. Jackson, Royall, Koegel & Wells, New York City; The One William Street Fund, Inc., Robert S. Carlson, Roth, Carlson, Kwit, Spengler & Goodell, New York City; Lehman Brothers, Allan B. Hunter, James J. Hagan, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, New York City; The Value Line Special Situations Fund, Inc., Arnold Bernhard & Co., Inc., Arnold Bernhard, United Funds, Inc., United Accumulative Fund, United Income Fund, United Science Fund, Waddell & Reed, Inc., Joe Jack Merriman, Albert D. Jordan, Valicenti, Leighton, Reid & Pine, Boston, Mass.; Selected American Shares, Inc., Security Supervisors, Edward P. Rubin, Edward H. Hatton, Lynne E. McNown, Jenner & Block, Chicago, Ill.; Stein, Roe & Farnham Balanced Fund, Inc., Stein, Roe & Farnham, Harry H. Hagey, Jr., Otis H. Halleen, Sonnenschein, Levinson, Carlin, Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, Ill.; Technology Fund, Inc., Supervised Investors Services, Inc., John Hawkinson, Francis E. Schlax, Meyers & Matthias, Chicago, Ill.; Financial Industrial Fund, Inc., Financial Programs, Inc., Thomas J. Herbert, Leland E. Modesitt, Gorsuch, Kirgis, Campbell, Walker & Grover, Denver, Colo.; Hamilton Funds, Inc., James A. Clark, Berge, Martin & Clark, Denver, Colo.; Hamilton Management Corp., Roberts B. Owen, Covington & Burling, Washington, D. C.; Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Inc., Johnston, Lemon & Co., James H. Lemon, John A. Beck, Frost, Towers, Hayes & Beck, Washington, D. C.; T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund, Inc., Rowe Price New Horizons Fund, Inc., Stanley J. Friedman, Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, New York City; T. Rowe Price & Associates, Inc., Charles W. Schaeffer, Rowe Price Management Company, Inc., T. Rowe Price, Daniel A. Pollack, Pollack & Singer, New York City; Investors Diversified Services, Inc., Stuart F. Silloway, A. Vernon Carnahan, Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, New York City; American Mutual Fund, Inc., William W. Vaughn, O'Melveny & Myers, Los Angeles, Cal.; The Investment Co. of America, Carl J. Schuck, Overton, Lyman & Prince, Los Angeles, Cal.; Capital Research and Management Co., Jonathan B. Lovelace, Philip F. Belleville, Latham & Watkins, Los Angeles, Cal.; American Express Investment Fund, Inc., Robert D. Raven, Morrison, Foerster, Holloway, Clinton & Clark, San Francisco, Cal.; American Express Investment Management Co., Fred H. Merrill, Richard Murray, McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, San Francisco, Cal.; Anchor Growth Fund, Inc. (formerly Diversified Growth Stock Fund, Inc.), Anchor Income Fund, Inc. (formerly Diversified Investment Fund), Fundamental Investors, Inc., Cornelius J. Moynihan, Jr., Peabody, Brown, Rowley & Storey, Boston, Mass.; Anchor Corp., John R. Haire, Daniel A. Pollack, Pollack & Singer, New York City; Group Securities, Inc., Howard F. Ordman, Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, New York City; Investors Mutual, Inc., Investors Stock Fund, Inc., Investors Variable Payment Fund, Inc., Ralph M. Carson, Richard E. Nolan, Frank S. Moseley, Davis, Polk & Wardell, New York City.

Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, ALDRICH and McENTEE, Circuit Judges.

ALDRICH, Senior Circuit Judge.

This appeal challenges two rulings of the district court that plaintiff's derivative suit on behalf of certain mutual funds of which he is a shareholder is not maintainable because of failure to allege sufficient reason to excuse a prior demand on the directors, and, as to two funds, on the shareholder. F.R.Civ.P. Rule 23.1, post.¹ We reach only the first issue.

Plaintiff is a shareholder in four mutual funds, the Dreyfus Fund, Inc., Manhattan Fund, Inc., Fidelity Trend Fund, Inc., and the Putnam Growth Fund, the latter two being, respectively, a Massachusetts corporation and a Massachusetts business trust. In December, 1968 he filed this suit in the District of New Jersey in several capacities—not only as a shareholder of the above funds, but also, inter alia, as a representative of shareholders of other funds—alleging antitrust and Investment Company Act causes of action against many large mutual funds, their external investment advisers, directors affiliated with both funds and advisers, and the Investment Company Institute, the trade association for the mutual fund industry. The thrust of the antitrust claim, the only one relevant to this proceeding, is that defendant fund directors, who were also affiliated with investment advisers, conspired with funds, advisers, and others to set excessive noncompetitive management fee schedules based solely on the average net assets of the funds. In April, 1969 defense counsel submitted a list of fifteen preliminary motions, divided into three groups, the second group including a Rule 23.1 attack on plaintiff's failure to make a demand on directors and shareholders. The district court dealt with the first group,...