In re Massey Energy Co. Derivative & Class Action Litig.

• Decision Date: 04 May 2017
• Docket Number: Consolidated C.A. No. 5430–CB
• Parties: IN RE MASSEY ENERGY COMPANY DERIVATIVE AND CLASS ACTION LITIGATION
• Court: Court of Chancery of Delaware

160 A.3d 484

IN RE MASSEY ENERGY COMPANY DERIVATIVE AND CLASS ACTION LITIGATION

Consolidated C.A. No. 5430–CB

Court of Chancery of Delaware.

Submitted: February 8, 2017

Decided: May 4, 2017

Stuart Grant, Cynthia A. Calder, and Michael T. Manuel of GRANT & EISENHOFFER P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; Mark Lebovitch and David Wales of BERNSTEIN LITOWITZ BERGER & GROSSMANN LLP, New York, New York; Gregory M. Nespole and Benjamin Y. Kaufman of WOLF HALDENSTEIN ADLER FREEMAN & HERZ LLP, New York, New York; Nadeem Faruqi of FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP, New York, New York; Co–Lead Attorneys for Plaintiffs.

Kevin G. Abrams, Matthew L. Miller, and Michael A. Barlow of ABRAMS & BAYLISS LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Ronald S. Rolfe and Julie A. North of CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP, New York, New York; Attorneys for Defendants James B. Crawford, Robert H. Foglesong, Richard M. Gabrys, E. Gordon Gee, Bobby R. Inman, Dan R. Moore, Stanley C. Suboleski, and Lady Barbara Thomas Judge.

Kenneth J. Nachbar and Ryan D. Stottmann of MORRIS, NICHOLS, ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; William W. Taylor, III and Steven N. Herman of ZUCKERMAN SPAEDER LLP, Washington, DC (on behalf of Don. L. Blankenship); Peter H. White of SCHULTE ROTH & ZABEL LLP, Washington, DC (on behalf of Mark A. Clemens and Jeffrey M. Jarosinski); Stephen E. Baril of KAPLAN VOEKLER CUNNINGHAM & FRANK PLC, Richmond, Virginia; Stephen P. Anthony of COVINGTON & BURLING LLP, Washington, DC (on behalf of Christopher Adkins); Attorneys for Defendants J. Christopher Adkins, Don L. Blankenship, Mark A. Clemens, Jeffrey M. Jarosinski, and Baxter F. Phillips, Jr.

Kevin G. Abrams, Matthew L. Miller, and Michael A. Barlow of ABRAMS & BAYLISS LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Greg A. Danilow and Caroline H. Zalka of WEIL, GOTSCHAL & MANGES LLP, New York, New York; Attorneys for Defendant Linda J. Welty.

Donald J. Wolfe, Jr., Matthew E. Fischer, and Jacqueline A. Rogers of POTTER ANDERSON & CORROON LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Victor L. Hou of CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP, New York, New York; Attorneys for Nominal Defendant Alpha Appalachia Holdings, Inc.

OPINION

BOUCHARD, C

In April 2010, an explosion occurred at Massey Energy Company's Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia, killing 29 miners. It was the worst mining disaster in the United States in 40 years, but it was not the first serious accident at a Massey mine. Within weeks of the explosion, stockholders of Massey filed numerous derivative lawsuits, seeking to recover damages on behalf of the company for fines, judgments and other harm it would suffer because of the alleged failure of Massey directors and officers to make a good faith effort to ensure that Massey complied with mine safety regulations.

A series of government and private investigatory reports concluded that the Upper Big Branch mine tragedy was a direct result of Massey's systematic and willful violations of federal and state safety regulations. The disaster later led to the criminal conviction of several Massey executives, including its former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Don Blankenship, who resigned in December 2010.

On January 27, 2011, after a lengthy sale process during which multiple strategic parties were solicited to bid, Massey entered into a merger agreement with Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. If Massey stockholders approved the merger, they would receive a combination of shares of Alpha common stock and cash then estimated to be worth approximately $7 billion in exchange for their shares of Massey stock, and Massey would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpha. The merger consideration represented a 27% premium over Massey's stock price on the day before the Upper Big Branch disaster.

Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction against the proposed merger. Their central grievance was that the Massey board failed to transfer their pending derivative claims into a litigation trust for the exclusive benefit of the Massey stockholders rather than allowing the claims to pass to Alpha as the acquiror of Massey.

On May 31, 2011, then-Vice Chancellor Strine denied the motion for a preliminary injunction. Relevant here, he found based on an extensive record that "there seems little doubt" that plaintiffs' derivative claims would survive a motion to dismiss but that plaintiffs also were likely to lose standing to pursue those claims if the merger was consummated.¹ In particular, then-Vice Chancellor Strine noted that plaintiffs were unlikely to satisfy either of the two narrow exceptions to the continuous ownership rule for maintaining derivative standing that the Supreme Court enunciated over thirty years ago in Lewis v. Anderson.²

After receiving the approval of Massey's stockholders, the Massey–Alpha merger closed in June 2011. For the next five years, this action was stayed, initially at the request of prosecutors because of ongoing criminal investigations, and later because of Alpha's bankruptcy filing in 2015.

After Alpha emerged from bankruptcy in 2016, the Court was asked to decide motions to dismiss that the defendants had filed. By this point, the operative complaint asserted two claims against fourteen former directors and officers of Massey for breaching their fiduciary duties by "causing Massey to employ a deliberate and systematic business plan of willfully disregarding both internal and external safety regulations."³

The allegations underlying both claims are identical. The first claim was styled as a direct claim for "inseparable fraud" based on dictum from a 2010 Delaware Supreme Court decision in Arkansas Teacher Ret. Sys. v. Caiafa.⁴ The second claim was styled as a derivative claim. For the reasons discussed below, I conclude that both claims must be dismissed.

Although Count II contains numerous detailed allegations that would state a viable derivative claim for relief under Caremark , it must be dismissed because plaintiffs lost standing to pursue the claim under well-settled Delaware law that stockholders of Delaware corporations who transfer their shares as a result of a merger lose standing to litigate the derivative claims unless one of two narrow exceptions applies. Neither exception applies in this case, however, as then-Vice Chancellor Strine foretold in 2011, and as plaintiffs effectively concede.

The plaintiffs' putative "direct" claim (Count I) also must be dismissed. As explained below, our Supreme Court clarified in 2013 that the theory of "inseparable fraud" does not constitute a third exception to the continuous ownership rule and that, in order to state such a claim, the challenged conduct preceding a merger must itself form the basis of a direct claim. Here, despite plaintiffs' best efforts to transform their case from a derivative action to a class action, application of the Tooley test for distinguishing between direct and derivative claims leads to the conclusion that Count I is, in reality, a derivative claim to remedy corporate mismanagement that caused injury to Massey. Count I thus meets the same fate as Count II, and must be dismissed.

Although the net result of this decision is that plaintiffs will not be able to press what otherwise would be a viable derivative claim, that result is equitable in my view. Alpha paid a substantial sum in 2011 to acquire all of the assets of Massey. One of those assets is the derivative claim at issue in this case. It thus is appropriate that Alpha, which assumed considerable liabilities when it acquired Massey in the wake of the UBB disaster, have the right to exercise control over the property it paid to acquire, if for no other reason so that it may mitigate the considerable liabilities it assumed when it acquired Massey.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts in this opinion come from the Verified Stockholder Fourth Amended Class Action and Derivative Complaint filed on October 17, 2014 (the "Complaint") and the May 31, 2011 memorandum opinion denying plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction (the "May 2011 Opinion"),⁵ which is referenced in the Complaint. Any additional facts are either undisputed or subject to judicial notice.

A. The Parties

Nominal Defendant Massey Energy Company ("Massey" or the "Company") was a Delaware corporation that maintained its corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. On June 1, 2011, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. ("Alpha") acquired Massey in a merger transaction pursuant to which Massey became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpha (the "Merger"). Massey is now known as Alpha Appalachia Holdings, Inc.

Before the Merger, Massey was the largest producer of Central Appalachian coal, and the fourth largest producer of bituminous coal in the United States. Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Company owned the Upper Big Branch ("UBB") mine.

Plaintiffs consist of two pension funds and two individuals who allege they were stockholders of Massey at all times relevant to this action. Defendants consist of fourteen individuals who served at various times as directors or officers of Massey before the Merger.

Defendant Don L. Blankenship was a Massey director from 1996 through December 31, 2010, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board from November 30, 2000 through December 31, 2010, and President from November 2000 until November 2008.

Defendant Christopher Adkins was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Massey starting July 2003. Throughout the relevant timeframe, Adkins was responsible for all underground mining operations at Massey, including those at UBB.

Defendant Mark A. Clemens was Massey's Senior Vice President, Group Operations from July 2007 until the Merger.

Defendant Jeffrey M. Jarosinski was Massey's Chief Compliance Officer since December 9, 2002 and Vice President, Finance since November 30, 2000. Jarosinski was also Chief Financial Officer between November 30, 2000 and December 9, 2002.

Defendant Baxter F. Phillips, Jr. was a Massey director from May 2007 and was President from November 2008 until the Merger. Phillips succeeded...