Richie v. American Council On Gift Annuities
| Decision Date | 30 September 1996 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 7:94-CV-128-X. |
| Citation | 943 F.Supp. 685 |
| Parties | Boyd L. RICHIE, et al, Plaintiffs, v. The AMERICAN COUNCIL ON GIFT ANNUITIES, et al, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas |
Lonny D. Morrison, Morrison & Shelton, Wichita Falls, TX, Ronald D Wells, Milner Lobel Goranson Sorrells Udashen & Wells, Dallas, TX, Scott Robert Jacobs, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Dallas, TX, Robert Elkin, Phillip N. Smith, Jr., Charles Watson Cunningham, McKool Smith, Dallas, TX, for Boyd L. Richie.
Glynn Purtle, Fillmore & Purtle, Wichita Falls, TX, Judy C. Norris, George C. Chapman, Gregory S. Huffman, William Mayer Katz, Jr, Thompson & Knight, Dallas, TX, for The American Council On Gift Annuities, Inc.
George C. Chapman, Gregory S. Huffman, Thompson & Knight, Dallas, TX, Walter Franklin Williams, David Wayne Prasifka, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, Stephen Morris Briley, Banner Briley & White, Wichita Falls, TX, Richard T. McCarroll, Brown McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Austin, TX, Walter Hiram Mizell, Brown McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Dallas, TX, Walter F. Williams, III, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Richard T. McCarroll, Brown, McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Austin, TX, Walter Hiram Mizell, Brown, McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Dallas, TX, Roy T. Sparkman, Sparkman & Davison, Wichita Falls, TX, for Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Texas District, Lutheran Foundation of Texas.
Walter Franklin Williams, David Wayne Prasifka, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, Stephen Morris Briley, Banner Briley & White, Wichta Falls, TX, Walter F. Williams, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, for Concordia Lutheran College.
Richard T. McCarroll, Brown, McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Austin, TX, Walter Hiram Mizell, Brown, McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Dallas, TX, Roy T Sparkman, Sparkman & Davison, Wichita Falls, TX, for Gerald Bryan Kieschnick, Glenn Pittsford, Carl A. Heckmann, Glenn O'Shonney.
Walter Franklin Williams, David Wayne Prasifka, Lorance & Thompson, P.C., Houston, TX, Stephen Morris Briley, Banner Briley & White, Wichita Falls, TX, for Fred A. Bleeke.
Rod Phelan, Baker & Botts, Dallas, TX, Richard G. Braman, Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, for Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett.
Charles Murray Barnard, Law Office of Charles M Barnard, Wichita Falls, TX, Alexander Halpern, Caplan and Earnest L.L.C., Boulder, CO, for University of Colorado Foundation, Inc.
George Randle Earle, Biggers Beasley Earle & Hightower, Dallas, TX, Patrick Ray Cowlishaw, Robert M. Cohan, Kurt Allen Schwarz, Cohan Simpson Cowlishaw & Wulff, Dallas, TX, for amicus curiae, Salvation Army.
George Walter Bramblett, Jr., Noel M.B. Hensley, Kerry McHugh Breaux, Haynes & Boone, Dallas, TX, for Baptist Foundation of Texas.
Robert C. Walters, Russell Ray Yager, Scott Wayne Breedlove, Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, TX, Richard Thomas Sutherland, Law Office of Richard T. Sutherland, Wichita Falls, TX, for American Bible Society, The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.
Robert Richard Roby, James Allen Harrison, Russell Hendrix Roden, Gwinn & Roby, Dallas, TX, James D. Jordan, Guenther & Jordan, Nashville, TN, for Southern Baptist Convention.
Mark W. Bayer, William G. Whitehill, Elaine A. Murphy, Gardere & Wynne, Dallas, TX, Robert J. Brookhiser, Jr., Howrey & Simon, Washington, D.C. for U.S.
Susan Abbott Schwartz, Robin Foret, Landau Omahana & Kopka, Dallas, TX, for General Conference Corporation of Seventh-Day Adventists, Loma Linda University.
John Hess McElhaney, Susan Louise Karamanian, Michael James Boydston, Locke Purnell Rain & Harrell, Dallas, TX, for Anderson University, Inc., Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Vassar College, St. Olaf College.
William Gray Compton, Arter Hadden Johnson & Bromberg, Dallas, TX, Oldrich Foucek, III, Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino, P.C., Allentown, PA, for Good Shepherd Home Foundation.
Geraldine M. Alexis, Kirby H. Lewis, Sidley & Austin, Chicago, IL, Van Jackson Hooker, Jay Vogelson, Stutzman & Bromberg, Dallas, TX, for Northwestern University.
Thomas D. Graber, Hutcheson & Grundy, Dallas, TX, Charles Imlay Appler, Bennett & Weston, Dallas, TX, for American Baptist Foundation, American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, Evangelical Lutheran Church In America.
James Donald Blume, Law Office of James D. Blume, Dallas, TX, Donald C. Clark, Jr., Clark & DeGrand, Chicago, IL, for United Church of Christ.
Judy C. Norris, George C. Chapman, Gregory S. Huffman, Thompson & Knight, Dallas, TX, for Planned Giving Services, Inc, Planned Giving Resouces, Prerau & Teitell.
Robert C. Walters, Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, TX, for American Leprosy Missions.
Patricia Jane Villareal, Chrysta Osborn Castaneda, Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, Dallas, TX, for Hay-Huggins Company, Inc.
John Hess McElhaney, Susan Louise Karamanian, Michael James Boydston, Locke Purnell Rain & Harrell, Dallas, TX, Roger E. Bloomfield, Law Office of Roger E. Bloomfield, Dayton, OH, for Wittenberg University.
George Walter Bramblett, Jr, Noel M.B. Hensley, Kerry McHugh Breaux, Haynes & Boone, Dallas, TX, for Baptist Foundation of Texas.
Robert Richard Roby, James Allen Harrison, Russell Hendrix Roden, Gwinn & Roby, Dallas, TX, for Southern Baptist Convention.
Patricia Jane Villareal, Chrysta Osborn Castaneda, Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, Dallas, TX, for Hay-Huggins Co., Inc.
James Donald Blume, Law Office of James D. Blume, Dallas, TX, Donald C. Clark, Jr., Clark & DeGrand, Chicago, IL, for United Church of Christ.
Rod Phelan, Baker & Botts, Dallas, TX, Richard G. Braman, Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, for Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett.
Now before the Court are:
1) Plaintiff's February 13, 1996 Motion for Leave to File Fourth Amended Class Action Complaint;
2) Defendants' December 14, 1995 Motion to Dismiss;
3) Defendant's August 27, 1996 Renewed Motion for Relief;
4) Defendant Northwestern University's January 26, 1996 Motion for Summary Judgment1 5) Defendant Lutheran Foundation of Texas's October 26, 1995 Motion to Reconsider the May 3, 1995 Order Granting Partial Summary Judgment; and
6) Defendant American Council on Gift Annuities's and Defendant Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's November 22, 1995 Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Texas Statutory Claims.
After having considered these motions and all responses, replies, and surreplies thereto, the motions are hereby DENIED IN PART, GRANTED IN PART, unless otherwise stated, as follows.
This case involves a claim that the American Council on Gift Annuities, its members, and various other charities in the United States have been involved in a mass price-fixing conspiracy setting the maximum rates of return with regard to charitable gift annuities. In essence, the plaintiffs claim that these entities collusively fix prices to restrain competition between the various sellers of charitable gift annuities.
On December 8, 1995, the Charitable Gift Annuity Antitrust Protection Act2 and the Philanthropy Protection Act3 were enacted. These new federal statutes retroactively changed, not "clarified," the laws upon which Plaintiff's federal claims were (and are) based.4 On December 14, 1996, less than a week after passage of these new amendments, Defendants collectively moved the Court to dismiss5 Plaintiff's two federal claims, as set forth in Plaintiff's Third Amended Complaint, pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), 12(b)(6), and 12(c) in view of these new statutory exemptions, and to remand his supplemental state-law claims.
On February 13, 1995, Plaintiff moved the Court for leave to file his Fourth Amended Class Action Complaint which, inter alia, would abandon his federal claim under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and his Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act claim, but which would retain his other federal claim under the Sherman Act and his allegations concerning Defendants' illegal sale of annuities and operation of trust businesses. Defendants' Response to that motion argued, in part, that Plaintiff should not be permitted to amend his Complaint because its filing would be futile since Plaintiff's Fourth Amended Class Action Complaint would still fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted in light of the newly-enacted, retroactive antitrust exemption.6 Since, however, Defendants have not established "beyond doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief," Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), i.e., since there still exists the possibility that Defendants will not be able to prove that they qualify for the new antitrust exemption, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Sherman Act claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) must be denied. Consequently, Plaintiff's proposed amendment is not futile since his Fourth Amended Complaint alleges facts which could potentially state a claim, even given the new statutory exemption; therefore, his Motion for Leave to File Fourth Amended Class Action Complaint is granted in all respects.
Section 2(a) of the Charitable Gift Annuity Antitrust Relief Act ("Antitrust Relief Act"), which amends state and federal antitrust laws, provides as follows:
(a) EXEMPT CONDUCT. — Except as provided in subsection (b)7, it shall not be unlawful under any of the antitrust laws, or under a State law similar to any of the antitrust laws, for 2 or more persons described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)) that are exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code to use, or to agree to use, the same annuity rate for the purpose of issuing 1 or more charitable gift annuities.
The "antitrust laws" to which this provision refers are defined in § 3 of the Antitrust Relief Act, and § 4 of the Antitrust...
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Table of Cases
...177, 178, 180, 184, 185 Richards v. Neilsen Freight Lines, 810 F.2d 898 (9th Cir. 1987), 203 Richie v. Am. Council on Gift Annuities, 943 F. Supp. 685 (N.D. Tex. 1996), 357, 366 Table of Cases 397 Riley v. Nat’l Fed’n of the Blind of N.C., Inc., 487 U.S. 781 (1988), 69 Ripplemeyer v. Nat’l ......
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