In Re: Color Tile ( 2007 )


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  •                                                                                                                            Opinions of the United
    2007 Decisions                                                                                                             States Court of Appeals
    for the Third Circuit
    1-26-2007
    In Re: Color Tile
    Precedential or Non-Precedential: Precedential
    Docket No. 04-4351
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    Recommended Citation
    "In Re: Color Tile " (2007). 2007 Decisions. Paper 1700.
    http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2007/1700
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    PRECEDENTIAL
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
    Case No: 04-4351
    IN RE: COLOR TILE INC.,
    Debtor
    MICHAEL R. BUCHANAN, OFFICIAL COMMITTEE OF
    UNSECURED CREDITORS,
    as Disbursing Agent Under the Plan of Liquidation (Formerly
    the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Color Tile
    Inc., et al.),
    Appellant
    v.
    RELIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY; BLACKSTONE
    FAMILY INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP; PILGRIM HIGH
    YIELD TRUST; BANKERS TRUST CO.; IDS EXTRA
    INCOME FUND, INC.; DAN LUFKIN; ELISE LUFKIN;
    NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE OF A
    MASTER TRUST FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ALLIED
    SIGNAL, INC.; ALLIED SIGNAL CORP.; PRUDENTIAL
    HIGH YIELD FUND, INC.; PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE
    COMPANY OF AMERICA, AS INVESTMENT
    MANAGER FOR THE GENERAL MOTORS HIGH YIELD
    ACCOUNT; GENERAL MOTORS, General Motors High
    Yield Account; PRUDENTIAL SERIES FUND, INC.;
    RIVERSIDE CAPITAL ADVISORS, INC.; BEARS,
    STERNS & COMPANY, INC.; MORGAN GUARANTY
    TRUST CO. OF NEW YORK; ATWELL & CO; HOW &
    CO; KELLY & CO.; BTC US HIGH YIELD FUND;
    NORTHEAST INVESTORS TRUST; NORTHSTAR HIGH
    YIELD BOND FUND; SALOMAN BROTHERS, INC.;
    STATE STREET RESEARCH STRATEGIC GROWTH &
    INCOME FUND; STATE STREET RESEARCH INCOME
    TRUST; STATE STREET RESEARCH EQUITY TRUST;
    STATE STREET RESEARCH INVESTMENT SERVICES,
    INC.; STATE STREET RESEARCH GROWTH TRUST;
    METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
    On Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the District of Delaware
    District Court No. 98-cv-358
    District Judge: The Honorable Sue L. Robinson
    Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
    December 13, 2006
    Before: FUENTES and SMITH, Circuit Judges,
    and YOHN, District Judge*
    (Filed: January 26, 2007)
    I. Connor Bifferato, Esq.
    Joseph K. Koury, Esq.
    *
    The Honorable William H. Yohn, Jr., Senior District Judge
    for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.
    2
    Bifferato, Gentilotti, & Biden
    1308 Delaware Ave.
    Wilmington, DE 19806
    David F. Heroy, Esq.
    Brian E. Martin, Esq.
    Kevin Y. Pak, Esq.
    Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, LLC
    70 West Madison, Suite 3300
    Chicago, IL 60602
    Counsel for Appellant
    Paul A. Bradley, Esq.
    A. Richard Winchester, Esq.
    James J. Freebery, Esq.
    McCarter & English, LLP
    919 N. Market St., Suite 1800
    Wilmington, DE 19801-3023
    Counsel for Appellees
    ________________________
    OPINION
    ________________________
    SMITH, Circuit Judge.
    I.
    Appellant Michael Buchanan argues that the District
    Court’s grant of the defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment
    3
    should be reversed because the amended complaint in this case
    relates back to the original complaint under Federal Rule of
    Civil Procedure 15(c), thereby precluding a grant of summary
    judgment on statute of limitations grounds. Because we believe
    that, with the information that was available to it, the District
    Court could not properly determine as a matter of law that the
    defendant did not receive imputed notice under Rule 15(c), we
    will vacate the District Court’s decision and remand for further
    factfinding.1
    II.
    This case involves an appeal by the plaintiff, the
    Disbursing Agent Under the Plan of Liquidation (formerly the
    Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Color Tile, Inc.
    (“the Committee”)). The Committee appealed to this Court
    1
    We note in passing that we deny the plaintiff’s motion to
    take judicial notice of Section 19b-4 of the Securities Exchange
    Act of 1934, codified at 
    17 C.F.R. § 240
    .19b-4, and an apparent
    response by the Depository Trust Company to a questionnaire
    by the International Organization of Securities Commissions.
    See Berwick Grain Co., Inc. v. Ill. Dept. of Agric., 
    116 F.3d 231
    ,
    234 (7th Cir. 1997) (“The appellate stage of the litigation
    process is not the place to introduce new evidentiary materials.
    To grant such motions not only would promote inefficient
    allocation of judicial resources, but also would deny
    non-movants fair notice of the record they are to confront on
    appeal.”) (parenthetical citation omitted).
    4
    from an order granting summary judgment to defendant State
    Street Research Investment Services, Inc. (and affiliated mutual
    fund defendants) (“State Street Research”).
    The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) is an
    association of more than 200 brokerage houses and financial
    institutions which was formed pursuant to Congressional
    mandate for the purpose of owning shares for the beneficial
    interest of customers. Cede & Co. (“Cede”) is the name used by
    DTC to hold shares that it owns. Among other services not
    relevant here, Cede transmits the dividends received from
    issuers to the beneficial owners, through “participating” or
    “depository” banks acting as conduits. In re Color Tile Inc., 
    92 Fed. Appx. 846
    , 847-48 (3d Cir. 2004). State Street Bank (“the
    Bank”) acted as State Street Research’s conduit with respect to
    the Color Tile shares held in Cede’s name. In short, DTC
    functioned as a sub-agent for the State Street Bank, who in turn
    operated as an agent for State Street Research (the principal).
    In February 1998, the Committee served its initial
    complaint against Cede upon DTC. The Committee did not
    serve its amended complaint on State Street Research until
    March 2001–after the statute of limitations had run against State
    Street Research. The Committee’s allegations arise out of Color
    Tile’s payment of $10 million in dividends to certain of its stock
    holders, shortly before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The
    Committee alleges that the dividends were fraudulently
    transferred, and seeks return of the dividends from the stock
    5
    holders, including State Street Research. State Street Research
    was added as a defendant in 2001 because the Committee
    discovered that State Street Research had been a beneficial
    owner of Color Tile stock at the time that the dividends were
    paid. The 1998 complaint was otherwise unmodified.
    In April 2002, the District Court of Delaware granted
    State Street Research’s motion for summary judgment on the
    ground that the Committee’s 2001 complaint was time barred.
    The Court held that the Committee failed to demonstrate that
    State Street Research had received notice of the 1998 complaint,
    as required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(3)(A),
    and therefore the 2001 complaint could not “relate back.”
    The Committee appealed the grant of summary judgment
    and this Court vacated and remanded the case. In re Color Tile
    Inc., 
    92 Fed. Appx. 846
     (3d Cir. 2004) (Color Tile I). This
    Court in Color Tile I determined that the Rule 15 notice issue
    could not be determined without further factual development.
    The Court remanded the case for limited discovery directed to
    (1) whether State Street Bank received actual notice of the
    complaint from DTC; and (2) whether the scope of DTC’s
    obligations to the Bank included forwarding notice of
    complaints in such a manner that they would reach State Street
    Research.
    On remand, the District Court conducted a two-day
    evidentiary hearing and issued an opinion on October 6, 2004.
    6
    The Court granted State Street Research’s motion for summary
    judgment and concluded that the Second Amended Complaint
    did not relate back to the original complaint under Rule 15(c)
    because State Street Research had no notice of the initial suit
    brought against DTC/Cede.
    III.
    The District Court had jurisdiction over State Street
    Research’s motion for summary judgment pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1334
    . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 158
    (d)
    and 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    . Our standard of review over the District
    Court’s grant of summary judgment is plenary, and we “apply
    the same standard that the District Court should have applied.”
    Shuman ex rel. Shertzer v. Penn Manor Sch. Dist., 
    441 F.3d 141
    ,
    146 (3d Cir. 2005) (internal citations omitted); DeRienzo v.
    Harvard Indus., Inc., 
    357 F.3d 348
    , 352-54 (3d Cir. 2004);
    Becton Dickenson & Co. v. Wolckenhauer, 
    215 F.3d 340
    , 343
    (3d Cir. 2000). A court should grant summary judgment “if the
    pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and
    admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that
    there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the
    moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” FED.
    R. CIV. P. 56(c). This Court will, in applying this standard,
    “view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving
    party and draw all inferences in that party’s favor.” Shuman,
    441 F.3d at 146.
    7
    IV.
    The primary issue for this Court to address on plenary
    review is whether the District Court properly concluded, at the
    summary judgment stage, that State Street Research had no
    notice of the original February 1998 complaint brought against
    DTC/Cede.
    We note at the outset that the District Court in its October
    6, 2004 opinion concluded that State Street Bank “was obligated
    to forward complaints it received regarding its clients’
    securities” to State Street Research. The District Court drew
    support for this position from § 2.14 of the Bank’s Custodian
    Agreement, which states that it “shall transmit” all written
    information it received pertaining to the securities it held for its
    clients. However, the District Court stated that “[b]ecause the
    court has already concluded that [the Bank] did not receive
    notice of the original complaint, its obligation to forward the
    original complaint is irrelevant.”
    The District Court took an extremely narrow view of
    what constitutes actual notice. The Court held that “[n]either
    State Street Bank nor defendants received actual notice of the
    original complaint.” In examining the scope of actual notice,
    the Court looked only at whether the Bank (the agent) or State
    Street Research (the principal) examined or physically received
    the complaint from DTC (the sub-agent). Because the District
    Court has already concluded that the Bank needed to forward
    8
    the complaint to State Street Research if the Bank received it,
    the only question we must answer is whether DTC had an
    obligation to forward the complaint to the Bank.
    The District Court viewed imputed notice as a form of
    constructive notice. This Court in Singletary v. Pa. Dept. of
    Corrs., 
    266 F.3d 186
    , 195 (3d Cir. 2001) suggested that, for the
    purposes of the relation back doctrine, notice can be “actual,
    constructive, or imputed.” The Singletary panel apparently
    considered imputed notice as a form of constructive notice. See
    
    id. at 189
    . In Garvin v. City of Philadelphia, 
    354 F.3d 215
     (3d
    Cir. 2003), we followed Singletary for the proposition that
    imputed notice falls under the doctrine of constructive notice, so
    that imputed notice under Rule 15(c)(3) requires either a shared
    attorney or an identity of interests. See 
    id. at 222-27
    .
    The type of imputation at issue in Singletary and Garvin,
    however, differs from what we are presented with in this case.
    Here, the plaintiffs are attempting to impute knowledge from a
    sub-agent to an agent (and therefore the principal), as opposed
    to imputing notice under Rule 15(c)(3). Imputing knowledge
    from an agent to a principal must be analyzed according to
    principles of actual notice rather than constructive/imputed
    notice. In Singletary, the primary issue was whether a plaintiff
    could amend her complaint to include a staff psychologist in a
    § 1983 case brought by the mother of a prisoner who committed
    suicide in a state correctional institution. 
    266 F.3d at 189
    . In
    Garvin, the relevant issue was whether a complaint could be
    9
    amended to include several police officers in an excessive force
    case. 354 F.3d at 220. Both of these cases dealt with imputed
    notice in the context of whether the actors who actually
    committed the allegedly tortious and unconstitutional acts could
    be added to the complaint. Neither of these cases addressed the
    issue that confronts this panel. Here, we are simply analyzing
    whether, as a matter of law, an agent and a principal should be
    deemed to have received actual notice when their sub-agent
    receives knowledge within the scope of its employment by the
    agent. As a matter of basic agency law, imputed knowledge
    falls under the rubric of actual notice rather than imputed (and
    therefore constructive) notice. The key difference between the
    Singletary/Garvin line of cases and the situation here is that, in
    the former context, a plaintiff seeks to impute notice against a
    defendant who allegedly perpetrated the act or acts at issue in
    the complaint. In the agency context, however, the plaintiff
    seeks to add a party to whom actual knowledge should be
    imputed based on agency principles.
    Where an agent receives notice, that notice is imputed to
    the principal. Am. Sur. Co. v. Pauly, 
    170 U.S. 133
    , 153 (1898)
    (“It is the rule that the knowledge of the agent is the knowledge
    of his principal, and notice to the agent of the existence of
    material facts is notice thereof to the principal, who is taken to
    know everything about a transaction which his agent in it
    knows.”). See also Martin Marietta Corp. v. Gould, Inc., 
    70 F.3d 768
    , 773 n.4 (4th Cir. 1995) (stating that “the knowledge
    imputed to the principal is considered actual knowledge, not
    10
    constructive”) (emphasis added); Higgins v. Shenango Pottery
    Co., 
    256 F.2d 504
    , 509 (3d Cir. 1958) (noting that “it is a rule of
    agency that the knowledge of the agent is imputed to the
    principal in connection with any transaction conducted by the
    agent in behalf of his principal”); Tonelli v. United States, 
    60 F.3d 492
    , 495 (8th Cir. 1995) (“As a general rule, notice to an
    agent is effective if the agent has a duty to receive that
    knowledge and report it to the principal.”) (citation omitted);
    Veal v. Geraci, 
    23 F.3d 722
    , 725 (2d Cir. 1994) (“In general,
    when an agent is employed to represent a principal with respect
    to a given matter and acquires knowledge material to that
    representation, for purposes of assessing the principal’s rights
    and liabilities vis-à-vis a third person the agent’s knowledge is
    imputed to the principal.”) (citations omitted); N. Assur. Co. of
    Am. v. Summers, 
    17 F.3d 956
    , 964 (7th Cir. 1994) (stating that
    “knowledge of an agent is ordinarily to be imputed to the
    principal,” but not when a third party acts with the agent
    contrary to the interests of the principal) (citation omitted). This
    imputation applies to sub-agents as well; from sub-agent to
    agent, and then from agent to principal. See RESTATEMENT
    (SECOND) OF AGENCY § 283(a).
    With this framework outlined, the next issue to examine
    is the relationship between DTC and State Street Bank. The
    bulk of the Committee’s notice arguments turn, at the outset, on
    whether DTC had an obligation to the Bank to forward the
    complaint against Cede. If DTC had such an obligation, then it
    also had such authority, and if DTC had such authority, it was
    11
    within the scope of DTC’s agency.
    Against the backdrop of basic agency law is the fact that
    any duty DTC had to the Bank is governed by the parties’
    contract. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF AGENCY § 428. In
    this case, the contract we look to is the participation agreement.
    A threshold issue for the Committee, then, is whether passing on
    complaints in a manner that they would be received by
    beneficial stock owners (like State Street Research) was within
    DTC’s scope of agency by the Bank, and in the Bank’s scope of
    agency by State Street Research, as set forth in the parties
    respective agreements.2 The clearest indication of DTC’s
    2
    The Committee also argues that DTC had the obligation to
    forward the complaint to the Bank completely independent of its
    agreement with the Bank (it argues likewise for the Bank and
    State Street Research). The argument is based on the rule of
    “apparent authority,” which “‘arises in those situations where a
    principal causes persons with whom the agent deals to
    reasonably believe that the agent has authority’ despite the
    absence of an actual agency relationship.” Am. Tel. & Tel. Co.
    v. Winback and Conserve Program, 
    42 F.3d 1421
    , 1439 (3d Cir.
    1994) (quoting Barticheck v. Fidelity Union Bank/First Nat’l
    State, 
    680 F. Supp. 144
    , 148-49 (D.N.J.1988)). The Committee
    fails, however, to cite any evidence suggesting that State Street
    Research or the Bank caused the Committee to believe that DTC
    was invested with the authority to receive service of process for
    State Street Research, or to forward complaints to State Street
    Research. The Committee has only pointed to the undisputed
    fact that the Color Tile shares were held in Cede’s name, and
    12
    obligation to forward the complaint comes from Rule 6 of the
    Rules and By-Laws and Organization Certificate of DTC, which
    states:
    Subject to the provisions of these Rules and the
    Procedures, the Corporation, acting in accordance
    with duly authorized instructions from the
    Participant or Participants and the Pledgee or
    Pledgees, if any, having an interest in the
    transaction, shall . . . deliver dividends,
    distributions, rights, securities, proxy material and
    other property or documents received by the
    Corporation with respect to a Participant’s
    Deposited Securities or Pledged Securities, except
    as provided below in this Rule or in the
    Procedures.
    that Delaware and New York law required that the complaint be
    served on the registered owner of the stock. The Committee
    does not contend that state law prohibited serving the complaint
    on the beneficial owner too. Critically, the Committee does not
    contend that it was unaware of how DTC works. Any
    sophisticated party like the Committee knew or should have
    known that DTC holds shares in “street name” for beneficial
    owners—the Committee nowhere suggests it was lead to believe
    anything to the contrary.
    13
    (emphasis added). The plaintiffs argue that “other property or
    documents,” in the context of a Participant’s Deposited
    Securities, should be read to include a complaint because it so
    closely relates to DTC’s duty to deliver dividends to the Bank
    (and therefore State Street Research). This view of Rule 6
    comports with Color Tile I. As our panel then stated, “[i]t
    would seem to us untoward that a depository bank that acts as a
    conduit for the transmission of dividends (which perforce it
    must transmit) and keeps the financial record of these
    transmissions, would not have the obligation to notify the
    beneficiaries of a claim to recover some of these same
    dividends.” Color Tile I, 92 Fed. Appx. at 851. Further, the
    panel stated that “there seems to be no doubt of the obligation of
    DTC or its nominee to notify the depository bank of its claim.”
    Id.
    After further discovery on remand, however, the parties
    have supplemented the record to include an internal operating
    procedure (IOP) that, according to State Street Research, limits
    the applicability of Rule 6. Susan Geigel, DTC’s Director of
    Legal and Regulatory Compliance, refers in her declaration to
    a written IOP (attached to her declaration) which provides that
    [f]rom time to time, DTC receives notices and
    other documents and communications concerning
    securities that are or were credited to Participants’
    DTC accounts. Although DTC may make certain
    of such documents and communications . . .
    available to Participants, it shall be under no
    14
    obligation to do so nor, having once or more done
    so, shall DTC have a continuing obligation to
    make available Information of a certain type.
    Therefore, Participants are advised to obtain and
    monitor Information independently.
    (hereinafter the “Geigel IOP”) (emphasis added).
    Rule 6 refers to “documents” but does not specify
    “complaints” or “legal notices,” and the Geigel IOP (which,
    according to the Committee, limits Rule 6) refers to “notices and
    other documents,” but is otherwise non-specific. Under this
    view, DTC’s rules and procedures are ambiguous as to whether
    DTC “shall” forward a complaint (under Rule 6) or “shall be
    under no obligation to do so” (under the Geigel IOP).
    This ambiguity must be resolved according to basic
    principles of contract law. By its own terms, the participant
    agreement is governed by New York law. Rule 6, which is
    incorporated into the participant agreement, is one of DTC’s by-
    laws. “It is well established that ‘[t]he rules of contract
    interpretation are generally applicable to the interpretation of
    bylaws.’” IBJ Schroder Bank & Trust Co. v. Resolution Trust
    Corp., 
    26 F.3d 370
    , 374 (2d Cir. 1994) (quotation omitted).
    Moreover, here, DTC’s by-laws are expressly incorporated into
    the Bank’s “participant agreement” with DTC, and bind the
    Bank to DTC’s by-laws and rules.
    Geigel’s declaration and testimony are State Street
    15
    Research’s primary evidence that the Geigel IOP rather than
    Rule 6 applies to legal complaints. Geigel’s declaration states
    that the “notices and other documents and communications
    concerning securities” referred to in the Geigel IOP include
    complaints, and that because of this IOP, no participant could
    reasonably expect that DTC would forward a complaint. Geigel
    also stated more generally that “DTC does not interpret Rule 6,
    nor was Rule 6 intended, to create an obligation or expectation
    that DTC would deliver complaints or act as an agent for the
    Participants for service of legal process.”3
    3
    Another of DTC’s IOPs specifies which legal notices are
    not, at least upon first receipt, to be posted on DTC’s electronic
    notice service used by participants (LENS and LENL). This
    “legal notices IOP” provides that “Defendant” and “Dividend”
    are key words used to identify items that should not be
    published, and also provides that the “[i]tems where Cede &
    Co., or DTC is listed as a defendant,” should not be published,
    and should be forwarded to the legal department. State Street
    Research (and the District Court) cite the legal notice IOP as
    further evidence that DTC had no obligation to publish the
    complaint in this case because the terms of the IOP exclude it
    from publication. The problem with the argument is that the
    legal notice IOP is only relevant to publication of electronic
    notice and does not purport to govern the legal department’s
    handling of the complaint if it is apparent that it relates to
    securities credited to a participant’s account. The Committee,
    of course, argues that Rule 6 is the rule that the legal department
    was obligated to follow.
    16
    Given two conflicting but reasonable interpretations, a
    contract will be viewed as ambiguous at this early stage in the
    litigation. See Mellon Bank, N.A. v. United Bank Corp. of New
    York, 
    31 F.3d 113
    , 116 (2d Cir. 1994) (applying New York law).
    “As a general matter, we have held that when a contract is
    ambiguous, its interpretation becomes a question of fact and
    summary judgment is inappropriate.” 
    Id.
    Here, the parties each offer reasonable, but conflicting
    interpretations of Rule 6 and the Geigel IOP. See 11 WILLISTON
    ON CONTRACTS § 32:14 (4th ed.) (“Given that the purpose of
    judicial interpretation is to ascertain the parties’ intentions, the
    parties’ own practical interpretation of the contract . . . can be an
    important aid to the court.”); RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF
    CONTRACTS § 202 cmt. g (“The parties to an agreement know
    best what they meant, and their action under it is often the
    strongest evidence of their meaning.”).
    We do not in this opinion analyze every piece of
    evidence produced by both sides. Such factfinding and
    interpreting is best left for trial. The ambiguity arising as a
    result of competing interpretations of DTC’s forwarding
    obligations is enough to foreclose the possibility of summary
    judgment on this issue. See Scholastic, Inc. v. Harris, 
    259 F.3d 73
    , 83 (2d Cir. 2001) (“When the language of a contract is
    ambiguous and there is relevant extrinsic evidence regarding the
    actual intent of the parties, an issue of fact is presented for a jury
    to resolve, thereby precluding summary judgment.”). “Only in
    17
    the rare case is the extrinsic evidence so one-sided that no
    reasonable factfinder could find to the contrary, in which event
    the court should resolve the ambiguity as a matter of law.” 
    Id.
    (applying New York law).
    V.
    For these reasons, we will vacate the judgment of the
    District Court and remand for further proceedings consistent
    with this opinion.
    18