Rudman v. CHC Group Ltd.
Rudman v. CHC Group Ltd.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiffs brought this putative securities class action against CHC Group Ltd. (“CHC”), several of its officers and di
Facts
CHC is one of the world’s largest commercial helicopter operators and generates the lion’s share of its revenue from the provision of helicopter transportation services to customers in the oil and gas industry.
During the relevant time period, CHC’s fleet of heavy helicopters included 31 Eurocopter EC225s (“EC225s”).
In the Registration Statement for its January 16, 2014 IPO, CHC acknowledged the “temporary industry-wide suspension” of EC225s flights, stating that “[w]e have now resumed commercial service on the [EC225] fleet.”
Two months after the IPO, in a March 12, 2014 press release on CHC’s quarterly earnings, CHC represented that it expected revenue through the end of the fiscal year 2014 to be “flat to slightly down, reflecting the negative effect of the suspension and subsequent return to service of the EC225 aircraft,”
CHC’s Form 10-Q quarterly report, filed on March 14, 2014, confirmed the lackluster results. There, CHC disclosed that “[r]evenues in the Americas decreased by $26.9 million compared to the prior year period, primarily due to decreased revenue activity in Brazil of $21.3 million primarily as a result of the EC225 suspension.”
CHC ultimately disclosed the fee dispute with Petrobras during a conference call on July 10, 2014 in which it discussed CHC’s earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. CHC’s president and chief executive officer Bill Amelio stated during the call that “CHC has the world’s largest fleet of EC225s, so the suspension was a major disruption to our business and our customers.”
Plaintiffs filed the first complaint in these consolidated actions in state court on April 17, 2015, alleging that CHC’s failure to disclose the Petrobras fee dispute in its Registration Statement violated Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act.
Discussion
I. Motion to Dismiss Standard
On a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court “accept[s] as true all factual statements alleged in the complaint and draw[s] all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party.”
While a statute of limitations defense in a securities case sometimes turns on disputed facts, the “facts on the face of the complaint and related documents” are sufficiently conclusive in “a vast number of cases” to permit resolution on a motion to dismiss.
II. Plaintiffs’ Claims Are Untimely.
Claims under Section 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act must be “brought within one year after the discovery of the untrue statement or omission, or after such discovery should have been made by the exercise of reasonable diligence.”
The Merck Court rejected the inquiry notice standard as it applied to claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934.
Defendants contend that plaintiffs’ claims are untimely under the applicable one year statute of limitations because plaintiffs were on inquiry notice as of the March 12, 2014, when CHC released its quarterly earnings confirming a $21.3 million decrease in revenue due to the EC225 suspension. Defendants argue also that a reasonably diligent investor would have discovered the alleged omissions from publicly available sources as of that date. Plaintiffs dispute whether the inquiry notice standard applies to their claims and maintain that the earliest possible date investors could have discovered the fact of the Petrobras nonpayment was the July 10, 2014 conference call during which CHC explicitly disclosed that fact for the first time.
The Court need not decide whether Merck applies to claims under Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act, for the concept of inquiry notice would do no work in this case. This is so because plaintiffs could and should have discovered the allegedly material omission—that Petrobras declined to make payments on its EC225 contracts with CHC for a time in 2013— and “adequately plead[ed] it in [a] complaint” over a year prior to the date they filed the first of these cases.
Plaintiffs do not dispute that the Registration Statement itself described the EC225 suspension and identified Brazil as the market in which the company experienced an unexpected $20.3 million decrease in revenue as a result. They nevertheless protest that CHC did not identify
First, a reasonably diligent investor would have concluded that the $20.3 million decrease in revenue in Brazil involved Petrobras shortly after being alerted to the revenue decrease by the Registration Statement and March 12, 2014 disclosures. The Registration Statement emphasized Petrobras’ prominence in Brazil, revealing that Petrobras was a global “top two” customer and one of only two “top ten” customers that CHC services in the country.
Second, a diligent investor would have discovered that Petrobras disputed the amount owed on its EC225 contracts in 2013. The Registration Statement announced an unusual decrease in revenue, which CHC generates through its four-to-five year contracts with oil and gas companies. It thus intimated that established customers with EC225 contracts had paid less in 2013 even as the Brazilian market grew in importance.
Plaintiffs’ attempt to sidestep that obvious conclusion by faulting CHC for not detailing which of the two “fee-streams” was impacted. They argue that “any reasonable investor would have assumed that such revenue declines resulted from the stoppage of variable flight charges during the EC225 grounding, given that such
As an initial matter, plaintiffs’ assertion clashes with the consolidated amended complaint’s characterization of the standing fees as payable “in essence for reserving helicopter capacity” to assure that aircraft and pilots were “standing ready to provide flight services when needed.”
Even assuming that “any reasonable investor” would have believed as plaintiffs contend, information in publically available documents in plaintiffs’ possession would have disabused them of that notion. SEC filings that plaintiffs incorporate into the consolidated amended complaint revealed that Petrobras refused to pay both variable flight and standing charges to CHC and its competitors. For example, CHC’s primary competitor ERA disclosed in its 10-K on February 28, 2013 that Petrobras had “recently notified [ERA] and the other helicopter operators in Brazil of its intent to pay each operator only a percentage of the monthly rate going forward” and “that they may have the ability to terminate all EC225 helicopter contracts.”
In sum, the Court concludes that aspects of the alleged omission—that the EC225 suspension impacted CHC’s contracts with Petrobras and that Petrobras did not pay the full amount under those contracts in 2013—were obvious based on the Registration Statement and March 12, 2014 disclosures. Further, the Court holds that a reasonably diligent investor would have begun to inquire into issues in Brazil as of March 12, 2014, if not at the moment of the IPO. Such an investor would have discovered through publically available information that Petrobras’ nonpayment extended to standing charges and probably could have so concluded from common sense alone. Because a reasonably diligent investor would have discovered the alleged omission over one year prior to the filing of the initial complaint, plaintiffs’ claims are untimely. Nonetheless, the Court will address why plaintiffs fail to state a claim
III. The Consolidated Amended Complaint Fails to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted
Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act impose liability on participants in securities offerings when the public documents underlying the offerings contain material misstatements or omissions.
A plaintiff must plead also the materiality of any alleged misstatement or omission.
Plaintiffs identify as the single omission the fact that Petrobras halted payment (including standing charges) on its EC226 contracts during the suspension period. They maintain that defendants were required to disclose that fact to prevent other statements from-being misleading and to comply with affirmative disclosure obligations under various SEC regulations. Defendants dispute both points.
A. Plaintiffs Fail to Identify Any Misleading Omission
Plaintiffs assert that the following five statements in the Registration Statement were rendered materially misleading by the omission concerning Petrobras: that (1) Petrobras was CHC’s single largest customer;
First, the omission did not make misleading the representation that Petrobras was one of CHC’s largest customers in terms of revenue. The Registration Statement disclosed the actual dollar amount of revenue lost due to the EC225 suspension, and plaintiffs do not allege that this and other figures were inaccurate.
Second, CHC’s statements regarding its “strong” relationships with its customers was “no more than ‘puffery* which does not give rise to securities violations.”
As to the statement on the risk factor, plaintiffs are correct that “[c]autionary words about future risk cannot insulate from liability the failure to disclose that the risk has transpired.”
The fourth and fifth statements concerned the nature of the standing charges. In essence, plaintiffs argue that CHC’s characterizations of the standing fees as steady sources of revenue were misleading because at least one major customer had refused to pay them in the past. But plaintiffs in this instance again run headlong into them own characterizations of standing fees payable “in essence for reserving helicopter capacity.”
Accordingly, the Court grants defendants’ motion to dismiss for the alternative and additional reason that the consolidated amended complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act.
B. SEC Regulations Did Not Require Disclosure
Plaintiffs contend that several SEC regulations imposed on CHC an affirmative duty to disclose the fact that Petrobras failed to pay its standing fees during the EC225 suspension. Plaintiffs’ arguments are largely redundant of those addressed above and thus unpersuasive. The Court rejects them.
(i) Items 101, 303, and 503 of Regulation S-K
Item 101 requires a registrant to disclose its dependence “upon a single customer, or a few customers, the loss of any one or more of which would have a material adverse effect.”
Item 503 provides that offering documents must describe “under the caption ‘Risk Factors’ a discussion of the most significant factors that make the offering speculative or risky.”
(ii) Item 11A on Form S-l
This item requires registrants that wish to rely on prior periodic SEC reports for the purposes of a registration statement to “describe any and all material changes in the registrant’s affairs” since the end of the fiscal year encompassed by the prior filings. This provision does not assist plaintiffs because CHC did disclose the financial impact of the EC225 suspension in its Registration Statement. The question of whether the omitted details were “material” is, again, duplicative of arguments that the Court rejected above.
(iii) Regulation C
Finally, Regulation C requires registrants to “add[ ] such further material information, if any, as may be necessary to make the required statements, in the light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading.”
Conclusion
For all of the foregoing reasons, defendants’ joint motion to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint in these consolidated cases [DI # 44 in 15-cv-3733 and DI # 28 in 15-cv-3796] is granted to the extent that the action is dismissed as against all defendants except CHC and denied as to CHC only on the ground that the continuation of this action as against it is precluded by 11 U.S.C. § 362(a).
In view of the fact that this ruling finally disposes of all claims against all defen
SO ORDERED.
. For the sake of clarity, the Court refers to the final prospectus and registration collectively as the "Registration Statement,” as the statements in the prospectus are "substantively identical” to those in the registration. DI 45 at 5 n.2. Page numbers refer to the final registration statement filed with the SEC.
. The Court draws these facts from the Amended Complaint and accepts them as true for the purposes of this motion. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).
. DI 35 ¶ 3(a).
. DI 35 ¶ 3(c).
. DI 35 ¶ 71.
. DI 35 ¶ 3(d).
. DI 35 ¶ 68.
. DI 35 ¶78, 80.
. DI 35 ¶ 78, 80, 83, 85.
. DI 35 ¶ 3(b), 90.
. DI 35 ¶ 90, 92.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 12.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 62.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 12.
. DI 46 Ex. Cat3.
. DI 46 Ex. D at 5.
. DI 35 It 156.
. DI 46 Ex. F at 72.
. DI 46 Ex. H at 3.
. Id. at 5.
.DI 35 ¶ 157. CHC has since filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. DI 52. Consequently, this case is automatically stayed against CHC pursuant to Section 362(a). The case proceeds against the non-debtor individual and underwriter defendants. See Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass’n of Am. v. Butler, 803 F.2d 61, 65 (2d Cir. 1986).
. DI 35 ¶ 197-223.
. McCarthy v. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., 482 F.3d 184, 191 (2d Cir. 2007).
. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.
. Id. (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).
. ATSI Commc'ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd., 493 F.3d 87, 98 (2d Cir. 2007).
. LC Capital Partners, LP v. Frontier Ins. Grp., Inc., 318 F.3d 148, 156 (2d Cir. 2003).
. Ganino v. Citizens Utils. Co., 228 F.3d 154, 162 (2d Cir. 2000) (citations omitted).
. 15 U.S.C. § 77m.
. 559 U.S. 633, 130 S.Ct. 1784, 176 L.Ed.2d 582 (2010).
. See, e.g., LC Capital, 318 F.3d at 154; Dodds v. Cigna Sec., Inc., 12 F.3d 346, 349-50 (2d Cir. 1993). LC Capital involved claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934, which are governed by a separate statute of limitations. Prior to Merck, however, inquiry notice applied equally to claims under Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15. See Dodds, 12 F.3d at 349-50 (applying the test to claims under both federal securities acts).
. In re Openwave Sys. Sec. Litig., 528 F.Supp.2d 236, 245 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. LC Capital, 318 F.3d at 154.
. Id.
. See Merck, 559 U.S. at 653, 130 S.Ct. 1784 (holding that the " ‘discovery’ of facts that put a plaintiff on 'inquiry notice’ does not automatically begin the running of the limitations period”).
. City of Pontiac Gen. Emps.’ Ret. Sys. v. MBIA, Inc., 637 F.3d 169, 174 (2d Cir. 2011).
. Id. at 175.
. See In re Bear Stearns Mortg. Pass-Through Certificates Litig., 851 F.Supp.2d 746, 763 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (collecting cases and noting emerging consensus).
. Pontiac, 637 F.3d at 174.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 8, 18. The Registration Statement identified BP as the other customer in the Brazilian market. Id. at 8. Together, CHC's "top ten customers accounted for approximately 60% of [the company’s] total revenues.” Id. at 23.
. Petrobras, Annual Report (Form 20-F) (Apr. 30, 2014) at 24, 27 (stating that "Brazil provided 91% of our worldwide production in 2013” and that Petrobras was responsible for "an estimated 90.9% of Brail’s total oil production”).
. DI 46 Ex. B at 61.
. According to plaintiffs, it was just as likely that the decline in revenue involved only CHC’s contracts with BP. Even if that were a possibility, the Court assumes the point of a view of a reasonable investor, who would not have made such an unlikely assumption.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 62.
. DI 48 at 9.
. DI 35 ¶ 71.
. DI 35 ¶ 178 (emphasis added). In addition to the 10-K, plaintiffs incorporated into the consolidated amended complaint a litany of ERA’s regulatory filings and public disclosures, including an August 13, 2013 conference call in which ERA’s chief executive officer explained that Petrobras’ policy of refusing to pay monthly standing charges applied “across the board” to the “other operators” in Brazil. Id. ¶ 186.
. Defendants have identified also a 2013 article in an online trade publication that describes Petrobras’ decision to halt all payments on EC225 contracts during the suspension period, DI 35 Ex. J. Courts in this circuit have found a single news article sufficient to time-bar a securities claim. See Shah v. Meeker, 435 F.3d 244, 245 (2d Cir. 2006) (abrogated by Merck, 559 U.S. 633, 130 S.Ct. 1784 (2010)). This article is likely too obscure to have a similar effect as the article in Shah, and the Court does not rely on it as an independent ground for notice. It does, however, tend to demonstrate that Pe-trobras’ policy regarding its EC225 contracts was not a closely guarded secret in the industry.
. See 15 U.S.C. § 77k(a), 777(a)(2), 77o.
. See id.
. In re Morgan Stanley Info. Fund Sec. Litig., 592 F.3d 347, 360 (2d Cir. 2010).
. See id.
. In re Time Warner Inc. Sec. Litig., 9 F.3d 259, 267 (2d Cir. 1993).
. Id.
. DI 35 ¶ 125; DI 46 Ex. B at 8, 23, 111.
. DI 35 ¶ 125; DI 46 Ex. Bat 9, 112.
. DI 35 ¶ 127; DI 46 Ex. B at 23.
. DI 35 ¶ 73, 131-35, 161-63; DI 46 Ex. B at 1, 8, 52, 55, 103.
. DI 35 ¶ 73, 75, 131-35, 161-63; DI 49-2 at 8, 19, 24.
. ECA, Local 134 IBEW Joint Pension Trust of Chi. v. JP Morgan Chase Co., 553 F.3d 187, 206 (2d Cir. 2009).
. Plaintiffs concede that Petrobras "resumed payment” on the contracts in question at the end of the EC225 suspension period in December 2013. DI 48 at 14 n.14.
. Rombach v. Chang, 355 F.3d 164, 173 (2d Cir. 2004).
. DI 35 ¶ 71.
. See DI 48 at 14 (arguing that the Petrobras nonpayment "implicated the legality and enforceability of CHC’s allegedly secure standing charges”).
. Different companies properly may choose differing levels of specificity. Plaintiffs are wrong to assert that because one of CHC’s competitors named Petrobras and its refusal to pay standing charges that it was a material omission for CHC not to provide similar details in its EC225 disclosure.
. The $21.3 million drop amounted to 1.6% of CHC’s total revenue for the nine month period in question and 1.2% of its total revenue for fiscal year 2014. DI 46 Ex. G. That amount is well below the 5% materiality threshold established by the SEC. See SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99, 64 Fed. Reg. 45150, 45151 (1999).
. See Caiola v. Citibank, N.A., 295 F.3d 312, 331 (2d Cir. 2002); see also Resnik v. Swartz, 303 F.3d 147, 154 (2d Cir. 2002) ("Disclosure of an item of information is not required, however, simply because it may be relevant or of interest to a reasonable investor.”).
. In re Time Warner, 9 F.3d at 267.
. Because liability under Section 15 is derivative of liability under the other two sections, the Court dismisses the Section 15 claims for the same reasons stated above. Further, the parties agree that all claims against defendant Moore should be dismissed because he did not sign the Registration Statement. DI 48 at 34.
. 17 C.F.R§ 229.101(c)(1)(vii).
. DI 46 Ex. B at 8.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 12.
. 17 C.F.R. § 229.303(a)(3)(i)—(ii).
. DI 46 Ex, B at 61-62.
. DI 46 Ex. B at 12.
. 17 C.F.R. § 229.503(c).
. City of Roseville Emps.’ Ret. Sys. v. Energy-Solutions, Inc., 814 F. Supp. 2d 395, 426 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).
. 17 C.F.R. § 230.408(a).
. See In re Morgan Stanley, 592 F.3d at 365.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Errol RUDMAN v. CHC GROUP LTD.
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published