Tannenbaum v. Zeller, 71 Civ. 2104.
| Decision Date | 29 July 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 71 Civ. 2104.,71 Civ. 2104. |
| Citation | 399 F. Supp. 945 |
| Parties | Susan TANNENBAUM, Plaintiff, v. Robert G. ZELLER et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Abraham J. Brill by Leonard I. Schreiber, New York City, for plaintiff.
Sullivan & Cromwell by Marvin Schwartz, Mark I. Fishman, Lawrence W. Nelson, New York City, for defendants F. Eberstadt & Co., Inc., F. Eberstadt & Co. Managers and Distributors, Inc. and Robert G. Zeller.
This is a derivative action brought pursuant to Section 44 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (15 U.S.C. § 80a-43); Section 27 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U. S.C. § 78aa); and Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. § 77v). Plaintiff who has been a shareholder of record of the Chemical Fund (Fund) continuously since at least 1965, sues on behalf of the Fund.
The latter, a Delaware corporation, is an open end "mutual fund" registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act. The Fund's principal activity is its varied investments in the chemical process industry. On December 31, 1965, the net total assets of the Fund were $433,849,751, and as of December 31, 1973, these assets had registered a more than 100% growth totaling $897,333,945. While the net total assets at the time of trial in 1974 were down to approximately 706 million dollars, a reflection of a general downward economic trend in this country, the Fund's performance still compared favorably with like investment operations.
The Fund's manager and distributor of shares, pursuant to written contracts, is F. Eberstadt & Co., Managers & Distributors, Inc. (M & D), also a Delaware corporation. M & D is a subsidiary of F. Eberstadt & Co., Inc., a brokerage house founded by the late F. Eberstadt, who also served on the board of the Fund. M & D provides staff, offices, advice and recommendations to the Fund and manages and supervises the business and affairs of the Fund, subject to the latter's Board of Directors, a majority of whom are disinterested or unaffiliated directors; that is, having no association with F. Eberstadt & Co. or M & D, within the meaning of Sections 2(a)(3), 2(a)(19), 10(a) and 10(b), of the Investment Company Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 80a-2(a)(3), 80a-2(a)(19), 80a-10(a), and 80a-10(b). The management agreement and the distribution agreement obligate M & D to provide all statistical and research services at M & D's expense and to pay for the sale and distribution of Fund shares.
The unaffiliated or disinterested Fund directors are men of repute in academia, business and the professions. Among them are Dr. James S. Coles, director since 1968, currently President of Research Corporation, a foundation for the advancement of science, and before that President of Bowdoin College; Burt N. Dorsett, director since 1966, currently Vice President and Senior Investment Officer for College Retirement Equities Fund, and former Vice President for Investments at the University of Rochester; Alfred E. Driscoll, director since 1957, currently Chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and former governor of New Jersey; Dr. Bertrand Fox, director since 1970, recently retired Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration; Dr. Roger F. Murray, director since 1959, Professor of Banking and Finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, formerly Vice President, responsible for portfolio management at Bankers Trust Co., and at one time manager of the investment portfolio of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association & College Retirement Equities Fund; Whitman Hobbs, director since 1972, John N. Martin, Franz Schneider, long time director, and Julian Avery, director until 1968, holding responsible positions in various corporate business institutions; Dr. Howard Rusk, director since 1962, well-known authority on rehabilitation and other medical questions; Leroy Marek, director from 1959-1973, a consultant on scientific problems and issues; and James J. Minot, director from 1968-1970, senior partner in Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc.
The parent company, Eberstadt (formerly a partnership), until 1972 owned all the capital stock of M & D, and since that time has held 75% of M & D's stock. Eberstadt since 1962 has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and continuously since 1970, a member or associate member of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). Robert Zeller, the only individual defendant served, is Vice Chairman of the Fund's Board and of M & D's Board. Prior to the incorporation of Eberstadt, Zeller was a partner in the firm. Since its incorporation he has been chairman of its Board and its chief executive officer.
Prior to 1971, the constitution and rules of the New York Stock Exchange required all members to charge at least a prescribed minimum commission on all transactions without regard to size or profitability. Moreover, the Exchange had always and continues to prohibit any direct rebate to a customer of any part of a commission earned by a member in the execution of a transaction, i. e., the consummation of a trade on the exchange. The costs of executing large orders, however, were not proportionately higher than the execution costs of small orders. But for the minimum commission regulation, broker-dealer firm members of NYSE in competing for business would have been willing to reduce their commissions based on quantity discounts to the customer. The unavailability of this form of discount led to a widespread practice in the mutual fund industry of customer directed "give-ups." Thus prior to December 5, 1968, it was common practice, custom and usage for a mutual fund through its manager to direct executing brokers on the NYSE and other national securities exchanges to "give-up" part of their commission to other exchange members who had no part in the execution of the transaction.1 The "give-up" was normally directed to a non-executing broker but one who had sold the shares of the mutual fund to the public and/or who had provided useful research and statistical information.
For the years 1965 through 1973, the Fund paid gross commissions to M & D, a portion of which M & D paid to non-affiliated dealers, in the amounts indicated below:
SALES CHARGE NET AMT
RECEIVED BY AMT. ALLOWED RETAINED
YEAR M & D TO DEALERS BY M & D
1965 $ 1,678,130 $1,443,784 $ 234,346
1966 2,126,476 1,676,727 449,749
1967 1,599,478 1,236,823 362,655
1968 1,440,831 1,118,046 322,785
1969 1,328,119 1,034,212 293,907
1970 2,098,752 1,619,762 478,990
1971 3,166,064 2,433,832 732,232
1972 6,334,902 4,885,042 1,479,860
1973 10,751,197 8,251,184 2,500,013
Between 1965 and 1973, the Fund paid brokerage commissions for the execution of purchases and sales of securities on behalf of the Fund on the NYSE, on which 80% of the portfolio transactions were executed, the AMEX and regional securities exchanges in the following amounts:
YEAR AMOUNT
1965 $ 339,860
1966 447,653
1967 617,787
1968 501,604
1969 472,757
1970 651,596
1971 920,767
1972 939,660
1973 1,291,735
From January 1, 1965 through December 5, 1968, brokers who executed transactions were directed by the Fund through M & D to "give-up" a portion of their commissions to brokers and dealers who performed no services in the execution of these transactions. The "give-ups" were awarded to these non-executing brokers and dealers for services rendered in the selling of Fund shares and in providing statistical or research services without making any charge therefor. The "give-ups" constituted a substantial portion of the execution commission which, as previously suggested, executing brokers and dealers willingly shared because the low cost of execution was more than adequately met by the minimum commissions specified. These "give-ups" from 1965 to 1968 exceeded the following amounts:
YEAR AMOUNT
1965 $ 81,686
1966 136,200
1967 214,600
1968 246,600
From January 1, 1965, through July 15, 1973, one of the basis on which brokers and dealers were chosen as executing brokers or dealers to handle a portfolio transaction for the Fund was to reward them for the sale of Fund shares. During the years 1965-1970, commissions paid by the Fund when the sale of Fund's shares was a criterion for selection of an executing broker were as follows:
YEAR AMOUNT
1965 $271,910
1966 379,752
1967 510,346
1968 430,150
1969 363,036
1970 462,613
During that period and to date another basis for the selection of executing brokers was to compensate them for providing statistical and research services to the Fund through M & D. The commissions paid in connection with such transactions were as follows:
YEAR AMOUNT
1965 $40,977
1966 42,900
1967 61,000
1968 45,967
1969 46,454
1970 91,662
These allocations are known as reciprocal brokerage, and approximately 98% of the Fund's portfolio transactions were allocated on this basis. After July 15, 1973, pursuant to a rule adopted by the NASD, the sale of Fund shares could no longer be a criterion for selection or non-selection of an executing broker or dealer.
While direct customer rebates were prohibited by the NYSE and AMEX and certain regional securities exchanges, a member firm serving as an investment advisor was not prohibited from...
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