CITY OF MONROE EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM, on Behalf of Itself and All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION; Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.; Yoichiro Kaizaki; Masatoshi Ono, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 03-5505.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Argued: June 9, 2004. Decided and Filed: Feb. 4, 2005.
399 F.3d 651
Before: KEITH and CLAY, Circuit Judges; OBERDORFER, Senior District Judge.
AMENDED OPINION
OBERDORFER, Senior District Judge.
In this appeal, we review the district court‘s dismissal with prejudice of a securities fraud class action Consolidated Complaint ( Complaint ) filed by investors in Bridgestone Corporation ( Bridgestone ) against Bridgestone, its subsidiary Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. ( Firestone ), Bridgestone Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) Yoichiro Kaizaki, and Bridgestone Executive Vice President and Firestone CEO Masatoshi Ono. The district court dismissed the claims against Kaizaki for lack of personal jurisdiction and dismissed the claims against Bridgestone, Firestone and Ono for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. For the reasons stated below, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
I. BACKGROUND
We assume the truth of the following facts for the purpose of this appeal. Unless otherwise indicated, they are drawn from the Complaint.
Bridgestone, a multi-national corporation with its international headquarters in Japan, is the world‘s largest tire manufacturer. Bridgestone‘s stock trades in Japan on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Bridgestone‘s stock does not trade on any American stock exchange. Accordingly, Bridgestone is not required to register its equity securities with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission ( SEC ). Bridgestone‘s stock trades in the United States on the over-the-counter, or OTC, market. The OTC market is an American market for foreign-issued securities not traded on any domestic stock exchange.1
Bridgestone operates in the United States through its regional corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, and through its wholly owned subsidiary Firestone. Firestone‘s corporate headquarters are in Nashville, Firestone‘s largest tire produсtion facility is in Decatur, Illinois.
From 1993 to 2001, Yoichiro Kaizaki was Bridgestone‘s President and CEO. In January 2001, he resigned from both positions. Kaizaki is now retired and resides in Japan. From 1993 to October 2000, Appellee Masatoshi Ono was the Executive Vice-President of Bridgestone and CEO of Firestone. In October 2000, Ono resigned from both positions.
Lead Class Plaintiff City of Monroe Employees Retirement System ( the Retirement Fund ) is, like all class members, a purchaser of Bridgestone common stock or
In that year, Firestone‘s Firestone 500 tire was the leading steel-belted radial tire brand. In 1978 and 1979 combined, Firestone manufactured approximately 14,000 defective Firestone 500 tires, resulting in hundreds of passenger vehicle crashes and 41 fatalities. Initially, Firestone publicly attributed the known failures to consumers’ failure to properly inflate or take care of their tires. Government investigators subsequently determined that Firestone had added too much of an adhesion-boosting compound to the rubber that held the steel belts together, resulting in rubber tire tread separating from underlying steel belts, eventually leading to the tires suddenly falling apart. As a result, in 1979, Firestone paid a $500,000 fine imposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ),3 the then-largest-ever fine imposed by the NHTSA, and instituted a recall from consumers of 13 million Firestone 500 tires. The recall injured Firestone‘s corporate image, brand, and financial performance. App. at 143 (Complaint).
In 1988,4 Bridgestone acquired Firestone for $2.6 billion. Upon acquiring Firestone, Bridgestone sought to increase Firestone‘s revenue by expanding its contractual relationship with Ford Motor Company ( Ford ), a leading American automobile manufacturer.
In 1988 and 1989, Ford was developing the Explorer, a new sport-utility vehicle. Firestone sought to obtain the tire supply contract for the Explorer. Towards that end, Firestone, in 1989, submitted prototypes of its ATX tires to Ford for testing.5 An outside company tested seventeen of the prototypes. In February 1989, the outside testing company reported that five of the seventeen prototypes had failed due to tread separation problems under heavy loads and strenuous conditions.
In March 1990, Ford introduced the new Explorer, equipped with Firestone ATX tires. Between 1990 and 1993, Ford sold over 300,000 Explorers per year. By 1993, Ford had become Firestone‘s leading customer as measured by sales volume and Firestone‘s financial health had improved markedly. Firestone had been losing approximately $1 million per day as of 1989-1990, prior to entering into the contract with Ford to outfit the Explorer with ATX tires; by 1993, Firestone was profitable.
Beginning in 1992, Firestone began receiving consumer complaints regarding tire tread defects, some of which led to rollover accidents in which the Explorer would flip over on to its side. Between
The Complaint alleges that by 1994, under pressure to cut its costs and increase the productivity and production rates of its American manufacturing facilities, Firestone imposed longer hourly work shifts to permit around-the-clock, seven days-a-week operations. In July 1994, Firestone‘s labor force, which was unionized, responded by engaging in a massive production strike.
During the strike, Firestone continued production at its Decatur, Illinois manufacturing plant. To do so, Firestone staffed the manufacturing floor with untrained and inexperienced non-union replacement workers, along with management employees. App. at 146. During the strike, the number of defective tires increased sharply as supervisors and under-trained or untrained replacement workers were called on to master highly skilled jobs to keep the Decatur plant running. Id. at 147.
In 1996, Firestone management, as part of the negotiations that ended the strike, extracted from the Firestone employees’ union concessions under which production speed increased, including longer work shifts and retention of a seven-days-a-week production schedule. Id. at 147. In its 1996 Annual Report, Bridgestone proclaimed that [w]e reached an agreement in 1996 with the union that represents employees at several of our North American plants ... The union has accepted already-implemented adjustments in working hours that permit our plants to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Id. at 246. After the strike, the increased level of production errors persisted in tires made at Firestone‘s Decatur plant. The Complaint alleges that production and inspection shortcuts resulted in a sharp rise in the number of tires that were not properly manufactured, tested, or inspected.
In 1996, Firestone performed random quality control high-speed durability tests on various ATX tires. In one of the sample tests, Firestone exаmined 129 ATX tires made at the Decatur plant. Eighteen of those tires failed the test due to tire tread separation. In another random test of 229 ATX tires from the Decatur plant, 31 failed. In an additional random test of 18 ATX tires, eight failed, seven of which were from the Decatur plant. Internal Firestone documents show that the tires’ tread separation rate was highest for tires produced at the Decatur plant from 1994 to 1996, during and just after the strike.
In addition to the alleged several thousand claims submitted by consumers directly to Firestone for compensation, between 1997 and 1999, United States consumers filed 34 suits against Bridgestone or Firestone based on deaths or injuries allegedly caused by rollovers of Explorers equipped with Firestone ATX tires. By no later than 1997, senior Firestone officials, including Firestone CEO and Bridgestone Executive Vice-President Ono, were tracking the claims and lawsuits. Robert Martin, who was Firestone‘s Vice President of Quality Assurance from 1997 or earlier until his retirement in April 2000, testified in a deposition that senior Firestone executives, Ono included, met at least quarterly from 1997 through 1999. The meetings consisted of Firestone‘s senior management group, the financial group, the quality group, and the public rela-
Internal Firestone documents regarding property damage, injury claims, and tire performance data, such as warranty adjustments and financial analysis of such claims, show that starting in 1996, the ATX tires began to fail at higher rates than they had before. Similarly, a Firestone chart reveals that from 1998 to 1999, tread separations for the Wilderness AT, one of Firestone‘s ATX tire models, increased by 194%. According to a 1999 internal Firestone report, in 1997 and 1998, another Firestone tire model, the ATX II, accounted for the majority of the tire claims against Firestone but for less than 10% of Firestone‘s total tire production. The Complaint alleges that Firestone had knowledge of thousands of claims for and complaints concerning ATX tire failures, especially ATX tires manufactured at [its] Decatur, Illinois plant during and after a bitter 1994-1996 strike, due to design and manufacturing defects which resulted in over 2,200 rollover accidents, over 700 serious injuries and approximately 174 fatalities by 2000. App. at 131 (Complaint). In response to the lawsuits, Firestone and Bridgestone entered into settlement agreements under which the settlement agreements with plaintiffs were sealed, the parties entered into stipulated protective orders to conceal discovery, аnd Bridgestone or Firestone had returned to it damaging documents. Id. at 151.
In 1996 and 1997, State Farm Insurance Company, the largest automobile insurer in the United States, demanded that Firestone pay the costs of automobile accidents attributable to ATX tire failures. Without conceding (or contesting) liability, Firestone reimbursed State Farm without public disclosure of the claims or the resulting payments. Having been paid, State Farm did not sue Firestone, lawsuits which the Complaint alleges would have publicized the growing problem with the ATX tires. Id. at 150.
Firestone suppressed information pertaining to investigations by various governments, domestic and foreign. In 1996, Arizona state government agencies expressed concern about the Firestone ATX tires. Firestone sent a team of engineers to investigate and then replaced certain Explorer tires without any public disclosure of the investigation or the replacements.
In Venezuela, between 1990 and 1998, over forty people were killed in Explorer accidents allegedly due to ATX tire failures. Ford demanded that Firestone alter the design of its ATX tire being sold in Venezuela to include a nylon layer. Firestone initially did not do so. The Venezuelan government investigated and expressed concerns to Firestone about the ATX tires. According to a Venezuelan government document, Firestone agreed to add a nylon layer to the tires in exchange for the Venezuelan government‘s promise that it would not publicly disclose this act by Firestone. According to the Venezuelan government document, Firestone expressed a belief that disclosure of the layer-adding would put in jeopardy the Bridgestone brand in Venezuela. Id. at 152.
In Saudi Arabia, multiple people in Ford Explorers outfitted with Firestone ATX tires also died between 1990 and 1998 due, allegedly, to ATX tire failures. Id. at 152. Firestone‘s senior management team discussed the possibility of a formal recall of the ATX tires in the Persian Gulf region. Firestone ultimately decided not to initiate such a recall. Id. A March 1999 internal Ford memorandum stated, with respect to that decision, that Firestone legal has
Regarding the ATX-related accident data from the United States, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia, the Complaint alleges that Bridgestone and Firestone executives kept the accident rate data which they had and which showed these serious problems from sаfety regulators. Id. at 151. The Complaint alleges that their motive for doing so was so they could report huge profits and their executives could retain their positions of power, prestige and profit and Bridgestone‘s stock and ADRs would continue to trade at inflated, higher prices, providing the executives with direct economic benefits based on their stock holdings and options and allowing them to personally pocket huge bonuses based on corporate profits. Id. at 151-52.
The Complaint alleges a series of public, fraudulent statements by Bridgestone and Firestone, beginning in March 1997 when Bridgestone issued its 1996 Annual Report.6 (Bridgestone typically issued its annual reports for each fiscal year in March or April of the subsequent year). The 1996 Annual Report stated, in its introductory Word from the President section:
We are staking our claim to global leadership on the tire industry ... I am especially satisfied with our ongoing business turn around in the Americas, the biggest tire market in the world
*
*
*
Our competitive edge in tire technology remains our highest asset ... Technology will continue to strengthen the appeal of our products and operations. This will include safety and improving performance.
App. at 245-47 (1996 Annual Report).
In March 1998 came Bridgestone‘s 1997 Annual Report. The accompanying letter stated: We are making steady progress towards leadership in the world tire industry .... Sales at our subsidiary for the Americas, [Firestone], surpassed our parent-company turnover for the first time. App. at 289 (1997 Annual Report). Similarly, Bridgestone‘s 1998 Annual Report, issued in April 1999, stated: [t]he Americas, the largest tire market in the world, are our biggest source of consolidated sales ... Our global market share in original equipment tires increased further in 1998. That growth evidences high regard among automakers for our strengths in product quality. App. at 342 (1998 Annual Report).
In early February 2000, a Houston, Texas television station reported that passengers in three Explorers equipped with ATX tires had died after suffering rollover accidents. On February 4, 2000, Firestone issued a release stating: We monitor the performance of all of our tires and ... we have full confidence in them. App. at 167 (Complaint).
In March 2000, Bridgestone issued its 1999 Annual Report. It stated: We are
Each of the Annual Reports covering fiscal years 1996 to 1999 included financial statements with a category labeled Contingent Liabilities. See App. at 278, 322, 367, 417-18 (1996-1999 Annual Reports, respectively). None of those reports, though, made a mention or disclosure of any loss contingency related to any of Bridgestone or Firestone‘s tire products that had previously been sold or sent to dealers.
Each of the Annual Reports from 1996 to 1998 included a letter from Bridgestone‘s outside auditors Asahi and Company stating that the given Annual Report was prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in Japan applied on a consistent basis. App. at 280, 324, 370 (1996-1998 Annual Reports, respectively). The 1999 Annual Report contained similar language, stating that the consolidated financial statements accompanying it were prepared in conformity with accounting principles and practices generally accepted in Japan ... applied on a consistent basis, except for changes, with which we concur, in the method of accounting for retirement and severance benefits and pension costs ... and for goodwill, consolidation differences, and income taxes. App. at 422 (1999 Annual Report). The Complaint alleges that under Internatiоnal Accounting Standard § 9010.08-.09, applicable in Japan pursuant to the International Accounting Standards Committee, loss contingencies should be recorded if it is probable that an asset has been impaired or a liability incurred at the balance sheet date and a reasonable estimate of the amount of the resulting loss can be made. App. at 178 (Complaint). Section
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, are a series of general principles followed by accountants in a given country or geographic area. Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report stated that [t]he Japanese consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions set forth in the ... accounting principles and practices generally accepted in Japan ( Japanese GAAP ). App. at 413 (1999 Annual Report). It represented that the accompanying financial statements include the accounts of certain foreign subsidiaries, which are based upon U.S. GAAP, representing 45% of total consolidated assets and 51% of total consolidated revenues in 1999. Id. Bridgestone and Firestone do not dispute that this statement was a reference to, among other non-Japanese Bridgestone subsidiaries, Firestone. United States GAAP, as set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board‘s Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 5 ( FASB 5 ), requires that loss be accrued whenever it is probable a loss has been incurred or an asset impaired and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated and that [i]f the loss is at least reasonably possible but no reasonable estimate can be made, the contingency at a minimum should be disclosed. App. at 178 (Complaint). The 1999 Annual Report stated that Japanese GAAP are different in certain material respects (e.g. topics addressed, available alternatives, recognition criteria, measurement practices, prеsentation formats and disclosures, etc.), as compared to accounting and reporting standards generally accepted in the U.S. ( U.S. GAAP ). App. at 413 (1999 Annual Report). At note 11, the Report included a supplemental discussion of the accounting differences, id., and listed a number of differences between Japanese and U.S. GAAP, id. at 421. Note 11 did not include a reference to FASB 5 as one of the differences between U.S. and Japanese GAAP. See id. The Complaint alleges that under FASB 5, Bridgestone‘s failure to either accrue for a loss or disclose both the ongoing losses from claims due to settlement and the contingency of a recall or a major loss related to the impairment of the Firestone tires was an actionable misrepresentation.
In July 2000, after consumers filed two lawsuits against Firestone alleging that ATX tire tread separation caused Ford Explorers to roll over and cause fatalities, the Wall Street Journal asked Firestone to comment. A resulting July 26, 2000 Wall Street Journal article quoted a Firestone representative as stating that Firestone had full confidence in its tires. App. at 170-71 (Complaint). Also in July 2000, several safety groups urged Ford to recall all Explorers with Firestone ATX tires on them. On August 1, 2000, Firestone issued a written statement that [w]e continually monitor the performance of all our tire lines, and the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires. Id. In that release, Firestone further stated that [p]roperly inflated and maintained Firestone ATX ... tires are among the safest tires on the road today. Id. On August 3, 2000, the
On August 9, 2000, Firestone announced that effective that day, it was beginning a formal, voluntary safety recall. The recall included 6.5 million Firestone ATX tires on Explorers already sold and an offer to replace all Firestone ATX tires on unsold Explorers in dealers’ inventory at that time. The recall specifically designated ATX tires made at Firestone‘s Decatur plant.
In the months immediately following the recall, Firestone and Bridgestone suffered major upheaval. In October 2000, Ono resigned as Executive Vice President of Bridgestone and Chief Executive of Firestone. In January 2001, Kaizaki resigned as Bridgestone‘s President and Chiеf Executive Officer. Saudi Arabia banned the importation of ATX tires. The two companies’ images were subjected to an array of public condemnation by regulators,10 congressional representatives from both major American political parties,11 and industry analysts.12
In the wake of the recall, Firestone immediately launched a four-month internal investigation culminating in a report released publicly in December 2000. See App. at 174 (Complaint). The report found that two problems were central to the ATX tires’ repeated failures. First was a problem with the tires shoulder pocket, an area from the sidewall to the tread designed to give traction in snow and off-road driving conditions. In many of the ATX tires, the shoulder pocket was made with an angle steeper than is proper such that the pocket cracked on the inside. Particularly in those tires produced at the Decatur plant, the cracking was prone to spread from the pocket to the point where two belts of rubber-coated steel fibers form the tires’ core. Id. Second, noted the report, the materials used at the Decatur plant produced tires less likely to stay intact. To make a tire, the various layers are heated and squeezed together by fusion. The Decatur plant produced rubber pellets while the other plants used rubber sheets. In each case, the pellets or sheets wеre sprayed with lubricant to keep the rubber from sticking together in large globules. Lubricant makes tires stick together less. Because the pellets had a larger surface area than the sheets, the pellets in the Decatur plant were exposed to two or three times more lubricant than the sheets from other plants. After Firestone‘s internal report was issued, Firestone began shipping rubber sheets from other plants to the Decatur plant to avoid this problem. Id.
On May 11, 2001, the Retirement Fund (as lead named plaintiff for the Class) filed
On September 30, 2002, the district court issued a lengthy memorandum opinion and accompanying order dismissing the Complaint. See App. at 975-1038. Two of the district court‘s rulings are relevant in this appeal, each of which we describe in further detail within our analysis in Part II. First, the district court granted Kaizaki‘s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Second, the district court granted—as to the remaining three defendants, Bridgestone, Firestone, and Ono—their motions to dismiss with prejudice all counts for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under
The Retirement Fund appeals.
II. DISCUSSION
On appeal, our analysis proceeds in three parts. Part II(A) articulates the applicable standards of review. Part II(B) assesses whether the district court erred in granting Kaizaki‘s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and concludes that it did not. Part II(C) addresses the merits and divides into two sections. Part II(C)(1) discusses whether the Complaint adequately pleaded any actionable statements and concludes, contrary to the district court, that one statement by Firestone and two statements by Bridgestone were actionable but, like the district court, that the remaining alleged statements in the Complaint were not actionable. Part II(C)(2) analyzes whether, for those three actionable statements, the Complaint adequately pled scienter as against Bridgestone, Firestone and Ono. It concludes that the Complaint did so for at least one statement with respect to each of the two corporate defendants, but did not do so with respect to Ono.
A. Standards of Review
We review de novo the district court‘s dismissal of the counts against Kaizaki for lack of personal jurisdiction. See Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Tryg Int‘l Ins. Co., 91 F.3d 790, 793 (6th Cir. 1996). We also review de novo the district court‘s dismissal of the securities fraud complaint against Bridgestone, Firestone, and Ono for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. PR Diamonds, Inc. v. Chandler, 364 F.3d 671, 680 (6th Cir. 2004). In performing that review, we, like the district court, must accept as true well-pleaded facts set forth in the complaint. Id. (quoting Morgan v. Church‘s Fried Chicken, 829 F.2d 10, 12 (6th Cir. 1987)). The Retirement Fund need only give a ‘fair notice of what the plaintiff‘s claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ Lawler v. Marshall, 898 F.2d 1196, 1199 (6th Cir. 1990) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)).
B. Personal Jurisdiction
The Due Process Clause of the
Whether specific jurisdiction exists over Kaizaki depends on three criteria. Id. at 628. First, he must have purposefully availed himself of the privilege of acting in the United States or have purposefully caused a consequence in the United States. Id. Second, the cause of action must arise from his actions in the United States. Id. Finally, the exercise of jurisdiction by a court within the United States15 over Kaizaki must be reasonable under the circumstances of this case. Id. The district court held that the Retirement Fund‘s Complaint failed all three prongs. See App. at 997-1002. We must affirm the district court‘s holding if we conclude that any one of the three prongs are not satisfied. See, e.g., LAK, Inc. v. Deer Creek Enters., 885 F.2d 1293, 1303 (6th Cir. 1989) ([E]ach criterion represents an independent requirement, and failure to meet any of the three means that personal jurisdiction may not be invoked. ) (emphasis added).
Upon review, we conclude, under the circumstances of this case, that the third, reasonableness prong tips against exercising jurisdiction against Kaizaki.
Applying that balancing test to this case, there is clearly potential, should this suit go forward, for some substantial burden on Kaizaki. The Supreme Court has cautioned that [g]reat care and reserve should be exercised when extending our notions of personal jurisdiction into the international field, id. at 115 (internal quotations omitted) (emphasis added), and that the unique burdens placed upon one who must defend oneself in a foreign legal system should have significant weight in assessing the reasonableness of stretching the long arm of personal jurisdiction over national borders, id. at 114. In performing this balancing of interests, we keep an eye towards the interstate judicial system‘s interest in judicial economy and the shared interest of the several States in furthering fundamental substantive social policies. Id. at 113. In Aristech, decided in 1998, this Court upheld the reasonableness of exercising jurisdiction over a Canadian executive by reasoning, in part, that a Canadian defendant bears a substantially lighter burden than does a Japanese defendant or for that matter, most other foreign defendants, since only a short plane flight separates Ontario from Kentucky. 138 F.3d at 628 (emphasis added). This is not a case, the court in Aristech [ocean]. Id. (internal citations omitted). In contrast, of course, Kaizaki is living in Japan, and is a retired senior citizen at that. Though, presumably, a deposition or other proceedings involving Kaizaki‘s participation could be conducted by telephone or by counsel in Japan, circumstances might necessitate his traveling to the United States for a trial or other litigation-related purpose.
Turning to the other side of the scale, the countervailing interests of the United States as the forum and the class plaintiffs in the instant suit being prosecuted against Kaizaki are relatively light. The key defendants, we think, are Bridgestone and Firestone, the two corporate entities with substantial ongoing business affairs in the United States. The court‘s personal jurisdiction over the corporate defendants, and indeed over defendant Ono, is conceded.16 Thus, the marginal addition of Kaizaki would add little or nothing to the potential recovery should the plaintiffs ultimately prevail on the merits and be awarded damages, for which Kaizaki would be at most liable jointly and severally, but not sеparately liable.
The Retirement Fund suggests that even if we conclude that the circumstances of this case do not satisfy the test for personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants, its allegations of control person liability nonetheless provide personal jurisdiction over Kaizaki. Appellant‘s Br. at 53. The notion of a control person derives from § 20(a) of the
There is a division of judicial authority as to whether showing that a defendant is a controlling person within the meaning of these provisions (and thereby potentially liable under the securities law to the same extent as the controlled entity) is automatically sufficient to bring that defendant within the personal jurisdiction of the court merely because the controlled entity itself has the requisite jurisdictional contacts. See, e.g., In re Baan Co. Sec. Litig., 245 F.Supp.2d 117, 128-29 (D.D.C. 2003) (collecting cases). This court has not apparently addressed the issue.
The Retirement Fund‘s theory is supported most prominently by San Mateo County Transit Dist. v. Dearman, Fitzgerald, & Roberts, Inc., 979 F.2d 1356 (9th Cir. 1992). That decision held that jurisdiction is appropriate if the plaintiff makes only a non-frivolous allegation that the defendant controlled a person liable for the fraud. Id. at 1358; see also McNamara v. Bre-X Minerals Ltd., 46 F.Supp.2d 628, 636-37 (E.D. Tex. 1999) (adopting a rule that the Court has personal jurisdiction over any Defendant as to which the Plaintiffs make a prima facie showing of control person liability. ). Kaizaki responds that [a] claim of statutory liability ... is no substitute for establishing personal jurisdiction. Appellees Bridgestone and Kaizaki‘s Br. at 46 n. 18 & accompanying text. We agree. [L]iability is not to be conflated with amenability to suit in a particular forum. Personal jurisdiction has constitutional dimensions, and regardless of policy goals, Congress cannot override the due process clause, the source of protection for non-resident defendants. AT & T Co. v. Compagnie Bruxelles Lambert, 94 F.3d 586, 590-591 (9th Cir. 1996) (internal citations omitted). The broad understanding of control person liability adopted by the securities laws cannot on its own support personal jurisdiction. This approach would, as one persuasive opinion stated, impermissibly conflate[] statutory liability with the Constitution‘s command that the exercise of personal jurisdiction must be fundamentally fair. In re Baan, 245 F.Supp.2d at 129 (Huvelle, J.). Though they may involve a similar contact-based analysis, ultimately, the two inquiries must be distinct: control person liability under the securities laws is not germane to the issue of personal jurisdiction .... FDIC
We thus reject the Retirement Fund‘s invitation to substitute our analysis of the securities laws’ substantive bases for liability for the required, due-process based personal jurisdiction analysis, and therefore decline to address Kaizaki‘s potential liability as a control person. For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the district court did not err in granting Kaizaki‘s motion to dismiss for want of personal jurisdiction. We turn then to the merits of the Complaint and analyze whether the district court erred in granting the motion to dismiss as against the other three defendants on the grounds that it failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
C. Merits
Since their enactment in response to the stock market crash of 1929, the basic policies underlying securities regulation have been that [t]here cannot be honest markets without honest publicity because [m]anipulation and dishonest practices of the market place thrive upon mystery and secrecy. Helwig v. Vencor, Inc., 251 F.3d 540, 556 (6th Cir. 2001) (quoting Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224, 230 (1988) (quoting H.R.Rep. No. 1383, at 11 (1934))). The Supreme Court repeatedly has described the fundamental purpose of the Act as implementing a philosophy of full disclosure, Helwig, 251 F.3d at 556 (quoting Basic, 485 U.S. at 230), to substitute a philosophy of full disclosure for the philosophy of caveat emptor, Affiliated Ute Citizens v. United States, 406 U.S. 128, 151 (1972) (quoting SEC v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, 375 U.S. 180, 186 (1963)). Generally, federal securities law prohibits fraudulent, material misstatements or omissions in connection with the sale or purchase of a security. Morse v. McWhorter, 290 F.3d 795, 798 (6th Cir. 2002). Specifically, in order to state a claim under Section 10(b) of the
The district court held that the Retirement Fund‘s Complaint failed to plead adequately any actionable statements for any allegedly fraudulent statements. It held, in the alternative, that the Retirement Fund failed to plead scienter adequately. The district court did not address the remaining two elements of the claim: reli-
1. Actionable Statements
In order to be actionable, a misrepresentation or omission must pertain to material information that the defendant had a duty to disclose, two significant limitations to the general policy of disclosure. See, e.g., Basic, 485 U.S. at 238 ([I]n order to prevail on a Rule 10b-5 claim, a plaintiff must show that the statements were misleading as to a material fact. It is not enough that a statement is false or incomplete, if the misrepresented fact is otherwise insignificant. ) (emphasis in original omitted); In re Burlington Coat Factory Sec. Litig., 114 F.3d 1410, 1432 (3d Cir. 1997) ([T]here is no general duty on the part of a company to provide the public with all material information. ). As this Court has recognized, this set of requirements preserves the healthy limits on a public corporation‘s duty to disclose all information[,] even colorably material, because corporations might otherwise face potential second-guessing in a subsequent disclosure suit, a regime that would threaten to deluge investors with marginally useful information, and would damage corporations’ legitimate needs to keep some information non-public. Sofamor Danek, 123 F.3d at 403 (internal quotations and citations omitted). A duty to affirmatively disclose may arise when there is insider trading, a statute requiring disclosure, or, as relevant to this case, an inaccurate, incomplete or misleading prior disclosure. In re Digital Island Sec. Litig., 357 F.3d 322, 329 n. 10 (3d Cir. 2004) (internal quotations omitted).
As for materiality whether or not a statement is material turns on a fact-intensive test. Helwig, 251 F.3d at 555.18 Materiality depends on the significance the reasonable investor would place on the withheld or misrepresented information. Id. (quoting Basic, 485 U.S. at 240). That is, would the information, had it been presented accurately, have ‘significantly altered the ‘total mix’ of information made available?’ Id. at 563 (quoting Basic, 485 U.S. at 231-32).
In this vein, this Court has distinguished between hard аnd soft information. Sofamor Danek, 123 F.3d at 401-02. Hard information is typically historical information or other factual information that is objectively verifiable. Id. at 401 (internal quotations omitted). Publicly disclosed, hard information is actionable if false and material.
Soft information, on the other hand, includes predictions and matter of opinions. Id. at 402. The failure to disclose soft information is actionable only if [it is] virtually as certain as hard facts. Starkman v. Marathon Oil Co., 772 F.2d 231, 241 (6th Cir. 1985). Thus, federal courts everywhere ‘have demonstrated a willingness to find immaterial as a matter of law certain kinds of rosy affirmation heard from corporate managers and numbingly familiar to the marketplace—loosely optimistic statements that are so vague, [and] so lacking in specificity, ... that no reasonable investor could find them important to the total mix of information available.’ In re Ford Motor Co. Sec. Litig., 381 F.3d 563, 570-71 (6th Cir. 2004) (quot-
However, opinions may be deemed false or misleading under the securities laws if proof of their falsity can be established through the orthodox evidentiary process. Virginia Bankshares, Inc. v. Sandberg, 501 U.S. 1083, 1090, 1091-93 (1991). For such statements, ‘a company is generally under no obligation to disclose its expectations for the future to the investing public.’ Helwig, 251 F.3d at 564 (quoting, with approval, Kowal v. MCI Commc‘ns Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1277 (D.C. Cir. 1994)). If a company chooses to volunteer such information, though, its disclosure must be full and fair, and courts may conclude that the company was obliged to disclose additional material facts ... to the extent that the volunteered disclosure was misleading .... Id. (internal quotations omitted). Our securities laws therefore require an actor to ‘provide complete and non-misleading information with respect to the subjects on which he undertakes to speak.’ Helwig, 251 F.3d at 561 (quoting Rubin v. Schottenstein, 143 F.3d 263, 268 (6th Cir. 1998) (en banc)).
The question thus is not whether a [defendant‘s] silence can give rise to liability, but whether liability may flow from his decision to speak ... concerning material details ... without revealing certain additional known facts necessary to make his statements not misleading. This question is answered by the text of [SEC]
With these standards in mind, we consider whether the plaintiffs have alleged any actionable statements. The alleged statements fall into two categories: (1) public statements by Bridgestone and Firestone affirming the safety or quality of Firestone‘s tires; and (2) allegedly false representations made by Bridgestone in the financial statements accompanying its Annual Reports.
a. Statements about the Quality or Safety of Firestone‘s ATX Tires
The Retirement Fund argues that a number of public statements by Bridgestone and Firestone about the quality or safety of Firestone‘s ATX times (summarized in Part I) are actionable because they were made while in possession of specific, adverse information undermining the truth of those statements, Appellant‘s Br. at 40, thereby engendering a duty to disclose known adverse information about the safety of Firestone‘s tires. These statements include: (1) Bridgestone‘s 1996 Annual Report statement that it sold the best tires in the world, its publicly distributed written statement in late 1996 that it had no reason to believe there is anything wrong with [its ATX tires] ; (2) Bridgestone‘s 1997 Annual Report statement that its products demonstrated global consistent quality ; (3) Bridgestone‘s 1997 Annual Report statement that [r]igorous testing under diverse conditions at our proving grounds around the world helps ensure reliable quality for original equipment customers ; (4) Bridgestone‘s 1998 Annual Report statement that sales success in North American was due to high regard among automakers for our strengths in product quality ; (5) Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report statement that [w]e have built a premium-quality for ... Firestone tires and that aggressive product development
had “re-established the Firestone name as a vigorous brand in premium-grade tires;” (6) Firestone‘s statements in February 2000 that it had “full confidence” in the ATX tires and that “[o]ur experience with Radial ATX indicates high consumer satisfaction with the quality and reliability of these tires“; (7) Firestone‘s statement in July 2000 that it had “full confidence” in its tires; and (8) Firestone‘s statement on August 1, 2000 that “[w]e continually monitor the performance of all our tire lines, and the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires” and that “[t]hese are safe tires.”As to Bridgestone‘s statements, the district court concluded that they were “statements of self-praise and confidence in its future,” which “constituted immaterial opinions.” App. at 1019. Similarly, as to Firestone‘s statements, the district court held that they were “of general optimism and in defense of its products [and] immaterial as a matter of law.” Id. at 1029. Accordingly, the district court held that all of these statements were non-actionable.
On appeal, Bridgestone and Firestone likewise argue that these statements were immaterial puffery. With one important exception—the statement in Firestone‘s August 1, 2000 concerning “objective data“—we agree that the statements recited above are best characterized as loosely optimistic statements insufficiently specific for a reasonable investor to “find them important to the total mix of information available.” In re Ford, 381 F.3d at 570-71 (quoting Shaw, 82 F.3d at 1217). These statements, both on their own terms and in context, lacked a standard against which a reasonable investоr could expect them to be pegged; such statements describing a product in terms of “quality” or “best” or benefitting from “aggressive marketing” are too squishy, too untethered to anything
Firestone‘s August 1, 2000 Press Release: “Objective Data” Statement. We reach a different conclusion, however, with respect to the statement in Firestone‘s
A reasonable juror could also conclude that the statement, without some qualification or accompanying disclosure of the numerous pieces of evidence that tended to cut the other way, was a misrepresentation. In 1996, Firestone had performed random quality control high-speed durability tests on ATX tires. In one of the sample tests, Firestone examined 129 ATX tires made at the Decatur plant. Eighteen of those tires failed the test due to tire tread separation. In another random test of 229 ATX tires from Decatur, thirty-one failed. In an additional random test of 18 ATX tires, eight failed, seven of which were from the Decatur plant. Internal Firestone documents show that Firestone knew since 1996-1997 from property damage and injury claims and tire performance data, such as warranty adjustments and financial analysis of such claims, that its ATX tires were failing at unprecedented rates. Similarly, a Firestone chart reveals that from 1998 to 1999, tread separations for the Wilderness ATX tires—one of the ATX models—increased by 194%. According to a 1999 internal Firestone report, in 1997 and 1998, another of the ATX models—the ATX II tires—accounted for the majority of Firestone‘s claims but less than 10% of its total production. Further, in Venezuela, between 1990 and 1998, over forty people were killed in Explorer accidents due to ATX tire failures and Ford had demanded that Firestone alter the design of its ATX tire being sold in Venezuela to include a nylon layer.
Firestone does not point to any record evidence showing its statement regarding the “objective data” was supported with respect to the ATX tires. It may be the case that at the summary judgment or trial stages of this dispute, Firestone will identify evidence that persuades the finder of fact that, as of the date of its statement on August 1, 2000 that “[p]roperly inflated and maintained Firestone ATX ... tires are among the safest tires on the road today,” id. at 171, the available objective data supported that claim. Or perhaps Firestone will introduce some other evidence showing that its statement about the objective data was in fact not misleading or false. However, at this stage in the lawsuit, construing the Complaint in a light most favorable to the Retirement
In holding that Firestone‘s August 1, 2000 statement was actionable, we express no opinion as to whether Firestone necessarily had an obligation to disclose the various safety and looming regulatory issues surrounding the ATX tires regardless of whether it affirmatively spoke on the subject. The Retirement Fund does not rely on that allegation and, indeed, has waived such an argument. See App. at 558 (the Retirement Fund stating in a brief to the district court that “[p]laintiffs do not contend that in the face of defendants’ silence they should have disclosed the defects in the ATX tires.“). We merely hold that once Firestone elected to make statements such as the statement regarding the “objective data,” it was required to qualify that representation with known information undermining (or seemingly undermining) the claim. See Mayer v. Mylod, 988 F.2d 635, 639 (6th Cir.1993) (“[C]orporate officers are not required to speak, but once they do, they must be truthful if their comments are material to investors’ decisionmaking.“); In re K-tel Intern., Inc. Sec. Litig., 300 F.3d 881, 896, 898 (8th Cir.2002) (“[T]he requirement is not to dump all known information with every public announcement, but the law requires ‘an actor to provide complete and non-misleading information with respect to the subjects on which he undertakes to speak.’ “) (quoting Helwig, 251 F.3d at 561) (emphasis added by Eighth Circuit).19
Firestone also argues that the August 1, 2000 statement is non-actionable because it was “immaterial as a matter of law.” Appellee Firestоne‘s Br. at 40. Echoing the district court, Firestone argues that the statement was one of ” ‘of general optimism and in its defense of its products,’ ” id. (quoting App. at 1018), and one that
We reject this argument also, for several reasons. First, we do not agree that the statement that “the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires” was a statement of general optimism or purely opinion. Rather, the statement was an assertion of a relationship between data and a conclusion, one that a finder of fact could test against record evidence.
Second, even if the statement regarding “objective data” was best classified as an opinion, it was still specific enough to form the basis of an actionable securities fraud claim. Federal courts have drawn the line on whether a statement may be actionable based, not on whether in the abstract a statement was best characterized as fact or opinion but, rather, if it was an opinion, on the nature of the statement. The key is whether the proposition at issue can be proven or disproven using standard tools of evidence. Thus, as alluded to above, vague statements not subject to verification by proof are generally deemed non-actionable puffery. But “opinion or puffery ... in particular contexts when it is both factual and material ... may be actionable.” Longman, 197 F.3d at 683 (emphasis added).
For example, in Virginia Bankshares, the Supreme Court held that an opinion expressed by a corporation‘s board members to its minority stockholders that the stock price of $42.00 for the purchase of the company‘s shares was a “high value” and represented a “fair” transaction could be both factual and material. 501 U.S. at 1093. In so holding, the Court expressly rejected the petitioner‘s argument, similar to that offered by Firestone here, that the Court “would invite ... amorphous issues outside the readily provable realm of fact if [it] were to recognize liability ... on proof that the directors did not recommend the merger for the stated reason.” Id. at 1091. “It is no answer to argue,” the Court stated, “that the quoted statement on which liability was predicated did not express a reason in dollars and cents, but focused instead on the ‘indefinite and unverifiable’ term, ‘high’ value, much like the similar claim that the merger‘s terms were ‘fair’ to shareholders.” Id. at 1093. “The objection ignores the fact,” observed the Court, “that such conclusory terms in a commercial context are reasonably understood to rest on a factual basis that justifies them as accurate, the absence of which renders them misleading.” Id. Rather, “[p]rovable facts either furnish good reasons to make a conclusory commercial judgment, or they count against it, and expressions of such judgments can be uttered with knowledge of truth or falsity just like more definite statements, and defended or attacked through the orthodox evidentiary process that either substantiates their underlying justifications or tends to disprove their existence.” Id.20
As in Helwig, the Retirement Fund‘s Complaint pleads a theory of liability for selective, incomplete disclosure. Following Helwig, we conclude that a reasonable juror in this case could conclude that Firestone‘s statement that “the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires” carried with it the representation that there was a reasonable basis for that belief, and that Firestone was not aware of any undisclosed facts tending to seriously undermine the accuracy of the statement, and that both those representations were misleading. That juror could thus find that the statement concerning objective data was actionable. Accord Warshaw v. Xoma Corp., 74 F.3d 955, 959 (9th Cir.1996) (holding that a company‘s statements regаrding the safety of its new products were actionable where the reassuring statements “were designed to prevent shareholder flight in the aftermath of a damaging report regarding the possible hazards of [the product]“).
Finally, as to Firestone‘s contention that the statement about the “objective data” is non-actionable because it “reflect[ed] the market‘s understanding that others had suggested the products were not as safe as Firestone believed,” Appellee Firestone‘s Br. at 47, this argument mischaracterizes the facts as pled in the Complaint. A number of courts have indeed suggested that misrepresentations about a fact already known to the marketplace are not actionable.21 And, although this Court has not directly addressed this theory, it voiced the logical complement in Helwig,
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that while most of the statements alleged by the Retirement Fund were insufficiently specific to be actionable, the August 1, 2001 statement regarding “objective data” is actionable. We turn now to Bridgestone‘s alleged misrepresentations in the Annual Reports’ financial statements.
b. Financial Statements in Bridgestone‘s Annual Reports
The district court held that none of the claims based on financial statements in Bridgestone‘s Annual Reports for fiscal years 1996 through 1999 were actionable. The district court reasoned that the Complaint “failed to plead a single fact that would have caused a reasonable investor to believe that Bridgestone‘s financial statements were prepared according to United States GAAP, or that a reasonable investor would have relied on this belief,” failed to “plead any particular fact that could establish any inference that Bridgestone violated Japanese GAAP,” and that “even if Bridgestone was subject to United States GAAP,” the Complaint “failed to plead with particularity any facts establishing a strong inference that Bridgestone should have ‘considered probable’ a Firestone recall and thus established a huge contingent liabilities fund.” App. at 1016 (quoting FASB 5). Bridgestone argues that we should affirm on essentially the district court‘s rationales. As discussed below, we disagree with that conclusion with respect to the statement in Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report, but agree with the result reached by the district
i. Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report
Issued in March 2000, Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report included at least two representations that a reasonable juror might conclude were material misrepresentations: (1) that no impairment of Bridgestone‘s corporate assets was substantially certain to occur through problems arising from customers or regulators’ actions (the “No Impairment” representation); and (2) that there were no actual, material losses connected to the lawsuits and responses to the regulatory scrutiny of the ATX tires (the “No Loss” representation).
(a) The “No Impairment” Representation
The 1999 Annual Report included several groups of statements that, taken together, constituted a representation to the investing public that no impairment of Bridgestone‘s corporate assets was substantially certain to occur through problems arising from customers or regulators’ actions. The below comparison of the Annual Report‘s accounting policy statements, the actual disclosures under those statements, and the alleged “on the ground” facts at Bridgestone and Firestone, reveals why a reasonable juror could conclude that this statement was a misrepresentation.
The accounting policy statements communicated to the investing public that if a loss or asset impairment was probable, the Annual Report would disclose that contingency in some form. The 1999 Report included a letter from Bridgestone‘s outside auditors stating that it was prepared “in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in Japan applied on a consistent basis.” Under International Accounting Standard § 9010.08-09, applicable in Japan pursuant to the International Accounting Standards Committee, “loss contingencies should be recorded if it is probable that an asset has been impaired or a liability incurred at the balance sheet date and a reasonable estimate of the amount of the resulting loss can be made.” Section 9010.08-09 provides further that “if either of the conditions is met and the possibility of the loss is not remote, the existence of the contingent loss should be disclosed in the financial statements.” The 1999 Report also stated that “the Japanese consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions set forth in the accounting principles and practices generally accepted in Japan (‘Japanese GAAP‘).” It further represented that Bridgestone‘s “accompanying financial statements include the accounts of certain foreign subsidiaries, which are based upon U.S. GAAP,” a reference to Firestone, its largest foreign subsidiary. We thus disagree with the district court‘s observation that no investor could have reasonably concluded that a representation was being made under United States GAAP.
United States GAAP, via FASB 5,22 “requires that loss be accrued whenever it is probable a loss has been incurred or an asset impaired and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. If the loss is
The disclosures under the Annual Report‘s stated policies included no reference to the impairment or likelihood of impairment to the asset of the Firestone Brand. The notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements did include a category labeled “Contingent Liabilities,” which disclosed deferred income tax assets, deferred tax liabilities, discounted export bills, and lease commitments, note regarding “Market Value Information,” which provided a disclaimer that Bridgestone was “exposed to the currency fluctuation risks in relation” to certain “forward contracts and to the interest rate fluctuation in relation to interest rate swaps,” as well as statements cautioning that “those derivatives do not exceed corresponding financial instruments,” and that Bridgestone “believes that the risk that the counterparts will not be able to fully satisfy their obligations under contracts is minimum.” However, neither the Contingent Liability section nor the Market Value Information section, nor any other portion of the 1999 Annual Report, disclosed the contingency of any loss or asset impairment related to any of the Firestone tire products due to the lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, or safety-related reasons. Nor did they disclose the potential risk of such an event.
The 1999 Annual Report‘s simultaneous inclusion of the accounting policies, the listed contingencies, and the absence of any mention of a contingency concerning Firestone tires constituted a representation that no loss or asset impairment arising from Firestone tire products due to the lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, or safety-related reasons was “probable” or “reasonably possible.” The question then is whether a reasonable juror could find that the facts belied that representation.
Bridgestone suggests that it is only in hindsight evident that there was a probability or reasonable possibility of a substantially adverse event as of March 2000. We disagree. By March 2000, Bridgestone and Firestone, according to the allegations of the Complaint, had received thousands of claims for and complaints concerning ATX tire failures, covering hundreds of serious injuries and 174 fatalities by 2000 allegedly resulting from problems with the tires. Firestone had paid off State Farm for the costs of automobile accidents attributable to ATX tire failures. The investigations and scrutiny by the Arizona and Venezuelan governments reinforces the impression that evidence was present of serious risks of adverse consequences for the ATX brand. From 1998 to 1999, tread separations for one ATX model increased by 194%. In 1997 and 1998, another of Firestone‘s ATX model‘s tires accounted for the majority of the company‘s claims but during those same years,
The question, then, is whether the “No Impairment” representation was material. Put another way, was it “so obviously unimportant to a reasonable investor that reasonable minds could not differ on the question of [its] unimportance?” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 563 (quoting Ganino, 228 F.3d at 162) (emphasis added by Helwig). We conclude that it was not. The 1999 Annual Report included at least six statements that stressed to shareholders or potential shareholders the significance of the Firestone brand or the American and North American market, of which Firestone was Bridgestone‘s major brand: (1) “We are determined to assert a singular advantage in product technology.... We increased our market share in North America in 1999 in the original equipment market. Our North American operations are approaching a market share of 20%.“; (2) a representation that as a perсentage of Bridgestone‘s net sales, its sales in the Americas were 41.5%, the largest of any geographic sector; (3) “[w]e increased our market share in North America in 1999 ... Demand for original equipment tires continued to grow in 1999 in the booming North American automobile market“; (4) a statement under the bold, purple-colored, large font label of “Trends And Topics” that “[o]ur multibrand strategy—centered on ... Firestone ... raised our market profile further in 1999;” (5) “aggressive product development and strategic marketing have re-established the Firestone name as a vigorous brand in premium-grade tires, as well as in large-volume, middle-market tires;” and that (6) “[a]s a major supplier to leading European automakers, we have developed business with the North American operations of those automakers, too. We also supply tires to nearly all the Japanese-owned vehicle plants in North America.” Firestone‘s financial and brand name health was of obvious importance to the overall state of Bridgestone‘s financial health. That relationship was evident both from its portrayal in the Annual Reports and in the severely adverse results that resulted immediately after the asset impairment occurred: in addition to the stock and ADR share price drops, recall that Firestone and Bridgestone each experienced a net $510 million loss for the 2000 fiscal year and that Bridgeport‘s net earnings in 2000 were 80% less than in fiscal year 1999. We conclude—at a minimum—that the probability or reasonably possibility of Firestone‘s brand name experiencing a sig-
(b) The “No Loss” Representation
The second representation from Bridgestone‘s 1999 Annual Report that a reasonable jury could conclude was actionable was its effective representation that there were no actual, material losses connected to the lawsuits and responses to the regulatory scrutiny of the ATX tires. FASB 5 “requires accrual by a charge to income (and disclosure) for an estimated loss from a loss contingency if two conditions are met: (a) information available prior to issuance of the financial statements indicates that it is probable that an asset had been impaired or a liability had been incurred at the date of the financial statements, and (b) the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated.” The Retirement Fund asserts that both FASB 5 and its Japanese analogue gave rise to a duty to disclose because Bridgestone “had specific knowledge throughout the Class Period that [it was] already incurring substantial loses through the replacement of tires, settlements of lawsuits and payment of claims.” Appellant‘s Br. at 47.
Bridgestone responds on this point with two arguments. First, it argues that the Complaint‘s claims based on problems related to the tires’ safety record are an impermissible attempt to plead fraud by hindsight. Bridgestone asserts that “the Retirement Fund has simply seized upon disclosures made in later annual reports and alleged that they should have been in earlier ones.” Appellees Bridgestone and Kaizaki‘s Br. at 30 (internal quotations omitted). This is literally true but does not mean that the Complaint advances an impermissible theory of liability: the losses already sustained as of March 2000 were clearly facts reasonably (and actually) available to Bridgestone in an amount calculable with precision or near-precision as of March 2000; if they were material and subject to disclosure under the stated accounting policies, it is no answer to say they were eventually disclosed later in time.
Bridgestone‘s second and more forceful argument is that these losses were not material. Bridgestone asserts that “the complaint contains no pleaded fact indicating Bridgestone knew about any substantial losses or that those amounts ... actually were substantial for an $18 billion company.” Appellees Bridgestone and Kaizaki‘s Br. at 29 (internal quotations omitted). “Indeed,” Bridgestone argues, “every manufacturer replaces its products, settles lawsuits, and pays claims as part of its day-to-day business; yet, no one would contend these activities alone requir[e] reserves.” Id.
This argument is ultimately unpersuasive for three reasons. First, assuming the truth of the facts set forth in the Complaint, by March 2000—when the Bridgestone 1999 annual Report was issued—over 2000 rollover accidents, 700 serious injuries and 170 fatalities had occurred yielding thousands of claims for and complaints concerning ATX tire failures and Bridgestone (via Firestone) incurred numerous categories of financial losses, including those affiliated with entering into numerous settlement agreements with the injured parties involving compensation, reimbursing State Farm,
Second, while it is likely the case that not every settlement or claim requires a reserve, that is besides the point here. These payments were not as a group routine or minor; they covered thousands of claims that alleged a common problem with a major product of Bridgestone‘s largest subsidiary in its highest volume sales market, the Americas. Because the 1999 Annual Report represented that there were no actual losses connected to the lawsuits and responses to the regulatory scrutiny of the ATX tires’ failures, there was a duty to disclose any material information to the contrary, be it in the form of a reserve, notice of a contingency, or some other form of disclosure.
Third, to the extent the materiality question is close, the general rule for securities fraud cases is that “[a]t [the motion to dismiss] stage in the proceedings, a complaint may not properly be dismissed on the ground that the alleged misstatements or omissions are not material unless they are so obviously unimportant to a reasonable investor that reasonable minds could not differ on the question of their unimportance.” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 563 (internal citations, quotations, ellipses and emphasis omitted). Courts “generally reserve such questions for the trier of fact.” Id. (collecting cases). We think this approach is appropriate here, both because a reasonable juror could find this claim actionable and because we are reversing on independent grounds with respect to a separate statement in the 1999 Annual Report.
ii. 1996-1998 Annual Reports
With respect to the financial statements for the Annual Reports for fiscal years 1996 to 1998, we conclude that the district court did not err in dismissing the claims based on those statements. Unlike the 1999 Annual Report, these reports contained no representation to the effect that United States GAAP standards applied. Any claim, if at all, based on these Annual Reports would have to be based solely on the implied statement (to American investors at that) that International Accounting Standard § 9010.08-09 applied. Most significantly, much of the evidence that the Complaint relies on as establishing that the asset was impaired or likely to suffer impairment became fully available after March of 1999, when the last of these three reports was issued, particularly the
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Complaint pleaded three actionable claims: (1) Firestone‘s August 1, 2000 “objective data” representation; (2) Bridgestone‘s “No Impairment” representation; and (3) Bridgestone‘s “No Loss” representation.
2. Scienter
Mindful that to survive a motion to dismiss, a federal securities fraud claim must “withstand an exacting statement-by-statement analysis,” In re First Union Corp. Sec. Litig., 128 F.Supp.2d 871, 886 (W.D.N.C.2001), the question then is whether the Complaint adequately pled scienter for these particular statements as against Bridgestone, Firestone, or Ono. Scienter is “a mental state embracing intent to deceive, manipulate, or defraud.” Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder, 425 U.S. 185, 193 n. 12 (1976). “As with all fraud claims,
However, in 1995, Congress having “concluded that Rule 9(b) had ‘not prevented abuse of the securities laws by private litigants,’ ”24 enacted the
In any private action arising under this chapter in which the plaintiff may recover money damages only on proof that the defendant acted with a particular state of mind, the complaint shall, with respect to each act or omission alleged to violate this chapter, state with particularity facts giving rise to a strong inference that the defendant acted with the required state of mind.
Reform Act‘s scienter-related provisions, Congress sought simultaneously to curb frivolous securities fraud litigation, which ” ‘unnecessarily increased] the cost of raising capital and chill[s] corporate disclosure, [and is] often based on nothing more than a company‘s announcement of bad news, not evidence of fraud,’ ” Comshare, 183 F.3d at 548 (quoting S.Rep. No. 104-98 (1995), 1995 U.S.C.C.A.N. 679, 690), and “to protect investors and to maintain confidence in the securities markets.” H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 104-369, at 31 (1995), 1995 U.S.C.C.A.N. 730. Reflecting this balance, this court has noted that after the Reform Act, for those complaints advancing non-frivolous, well-pled allegations of scienter, “[o]ur willingness to draw inferences in favor of the plaintiff remains unchanged.” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 553; see also id. (rejecting an interpretation of the Reform Act under which “it [would] become a choke-point for meritorious claims“).
In elaborating on the meaning of the statute‘s term “strong inference,” Helwig explained that “[i]nferences must be reasonable and strong—but not [necessarily] irrefutable.” Id. The Complaint “need not foreclose all other characterizations of fact, as the task of weighing contrary accounts is reserved for the fact finder.” Id. Rather, under the “strong inference” requirement, the Retirement Fund is “entitled only to the most plausible of competing inferences.” Id. ” ‘Strong inferences’ ... involve deductive reasoning; their strength depends on how closely a conclusion of misconduct follows from a plaintiff‘s proposition of fact.” Id. (quoted with approval in In re Ford, 381 F.3d at 568). Our task is thus to determine whether the Complaint alleges facts that, if true, would, by forming the basis for a strong inference, “convince a reasonable person that the defendant knew a statement was false or misleading.” Adams v. Kinder-Morgan, Inc., 340 F.3d 1083, 1105 (10th Cir. 2003). Ultimately, in our scienter analysis, we “employ[] a totality of the circumstances analysis whereby the facts argued collectively must give rise to a strong inference of at least recklessness.” PR Diamonds, 364 F.3d at 683. ” ‘This necessarily involves a sifting of allegations in the complaint.’ ” PR Diamonds, 364 F.3d at 684 (quoting Helwig, 251 F.3d at 551). Towards that end, Helwig identified nine factors that, while “not exhaustive,” are “helpful” in determining whether the facts as pled are “probative” of scienter in securities fraud actions:
- insider trading at a suspicious time or in an unusual amount;
- divergence between internal reports and external statements on the same subject;
- closeness in time of an allegedly fraudulent statement or omission and the later disclosure of inconsistent information;
- evidence of bribery by a top company official;
- existence of an ancillary lawsuit charging fraud by a company and the company‘s quick settlement of that suit;
- disregard of the most current factual information before making statements;
- disclosure of accounting information in such a way that its negative implications could only be understood by someone with a high degree of sophistication;
- the personal interest of certain directors in not informing disinterested directors of an impending sale of stock; and
the self-interested motivation of defendants in the form of saving their salaries or jobs.
251 F.3d at 552 (citing Greebel v. FTP Software, Inc., 194 F.3d 185, 196 (1st Cir. 1999)) (in turn, collecting cases). With these standards in mind,26 we turn to analyze scienter as to each of the three relevant defendants, the two corporate legal persons—Firestone and Bridgestone—and the one individual, Firestone CEO and Bridgestone Executive Vice-President Ono. Id.
a. Scienter as to Firestone
On August 1, 2000, Firestone released its statement that “[w]e continually monitor the performance of all our tire lines, and the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires.” With respect to Firestone‘s scienter concerning this statement, at least five of the nine non-exclusive Helwig factors are apparent the Complaint‘s alleged facts. First, there was a clear “divergence between internal reports and external statements on the same subject,” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 552; witness the contrast between the data known or available to Firestone as of August 2000—concerning the evidence of defective tires from Decatur and three years of a marked rise in the rates of deaths, injuries and claims and lawsuits based on several thousand rollover accidents, hundreds of injuries, and nearly 200 fatalities in the United States, over forty deaths in Venezuela, the multiple deaths in Saudi Arabia—versus the unqualified positive comments on the “objective data.” Firestone‘s awareness of the circumstances at the Decatur plant, including in particular the strike, the untrained replacement workers, the production schedule time increase imposed by Bridgestone and Firestone in the labor negotiations with the union, and the test results pointing to higher rates of problems in the Decatur-produced ATX tires, make the imputation of scienter reasonable.27
Other factors reinforce this conclusion. There was a “closeness in time of an allegedly fraudulent statement or omission and the later disclosure of inconsistent information,” id.; the August 1 statement about “objective data” was followed one week later by the recall of 6.5 million tires and four months later by the admission that many of the tires from the Decatur plant were made with a shoulder pocket more likely to crack than normal due to an improper angle and were more likely to fail to stick together properly. There was also a “disregard,” or at least a seeming disregard, of “the most current factual information before making statements.” Id. Further, to the extent Firestone disclosed its data to Bridgestone in a form substantially similar to that presented in Bridgestone‘s Annual Reports, Firestone‘s “disclosure of accounting information [was made] in such a way that its negative implications could only be understood by someone with a high degree of sophistication.” Id. Finally, assuming, as the Complaint alleges, that Bridgestone executives “kept the accident rate data which they
Three of the nine Helwig factors are clearly absent as pertains to Firestone, although in a sense these factors all go to the same question: conflict of interest. That is, there is no evidence of alleged insider trading at a suspicious time or in an unusual amount, no evidence of bribery by a top company official, and no evidence of personal interest of certain directors in not informing disinterested directors of an impending sale of stock.
That covers eight of the nine Helwig factors. A word is in order on whether the remaining factor is present, i.e. whether there is the “existence of an ancillary lawsuit charging fraud by a company and the company‘s quick settlement of that suit.” Id. There is not, strictly speaking, such evidence because the claims in question were not based on fraud per se. However, the presence of closely related evidence carries some weight, particularly given that the list of factors is “non-exhaustive.” Id. Firestone entered into multiple settlement agreements in response to product liability suits under which the settlement agreements with plaintiffs were sealed, the parties entered into stipulated protective orders to conceal discovery, and Firestone would have returned to it “damaging documents.” The gravamen of these claims and lawsuits, though framed as pre-litigation claims or lawsuits in tort, was closely parallel to that of this suit: the tires were not safe and Firestone should be held accountable for that fact. Moreover, Firestone secretly settled with State Farm all claims for insurance in exchange for lack of disclosure by State Farm and avoided through a secrecy agreement with the Venezuelan government any disclosure of its having added nylon layers to ATX tires in Venezuela. The evidence of these secret settlements gets at the same notion as does the Helwig factor instructing courts to analyze whether there have been ancillary lawsuits filed charging fraud followed by quick settlement of such suits. The apparent animating idea is that a company engaging in such practices is, all things being equal, more likely than not aware of the improper nature of the practice being alleged, or at least of the perception of the given problem, which puts it on notice and, is fair to say, generates a duty to inquire. These settlements are thus appropriate to weigh in our scienter analysis, since “this court has made clear that ‘the label which a plaintiff applies to a pleading does not determine the nature of the cause of action which he states.’ ” Minger v. Green, 239 F.3d 793, 799 (6th Cir.2001) (quoting United States v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 221 F.2d 698, 701 (6th Cir.1955)). Thus, in substance, if not form, we think a sixth of the nine factors is also present.
Given all this, we conclude under the totality of the circumstances that “the
b. Scienter as to Bridgestone
We next analyze whether the Complaint adequately pled scienter against Bridgestone for the two actionable representations in the 1999 Annual Report discussed above in Part II(C)(i)(a): (1) the “No Impairment” representation—that no impairment of Bridgestone‘s corporate assets was substantially certain to occur through problems arising from customers or regulators’ actions and (2) the “No Loss” representation—that there were no actual, material losses connected to the lawsuits and responses to the regulatory scrutiny of the ATX tires. A brief word is in order, though, on the nature of these claims. Contrary to Bridgestone‘s characterizations, the Retirement Fund‘s theory is not that the Complaint relies on the violation of GAAP to prove scienter. As Bridgestone correctly points, that allegation, without more, would not be sufficient to plead scienter adequately. See, e.g., Adams v. Standard Knitting Mills, Inc., 623 F.2d 422, 432 (6th Cir.1980) (concluding that although “there is sufficient evidence to support the Court‘s finding that [the defendant] inadequately tested ... financial figures in certain respects, [] the evidence falls far short of proving that [the defendant] intended to deceive the stockholders.“). Rather, GAAP is only part of the Complaint‘s explanation of the falsity of the claim: as discussed below, the Complaint alleges a wide range of facts above and beyond the violation of GAAP on which a reasonable juror could conclude scienter was proven. That brief detour aside, we turn to the two statements.
i. Bridgestone‘s Scienter as to Its “No Impairment” Representation
As to Bridgestone‘s scienter with respect to the “No Impairment” representation, we conclude that “the most plausible of competing inferences” arising from the evidence is that Bridgestone was at least reckless as to the falsity of that representation. Helwig, 251 F.3d at 553. The analysis on this claim breaks down similarly to that for Firestone: four—arguably five—of the Helwig factors are present.
First, and in this case most significantly, the Complaint pleads facts that, if proven,
Three, arguably four, other factors are further probative of Bridgestone‘s scienter, albeit with less force than the first one. First, for the reasons just outlined, we conclude that the facts could show that Bridgestone disregarded “the most current factual information before making statements.” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 552. Second, the 1999 Annual Report, by combining its statement of accounting policy with its silence, can be viewed as “disclosure of accounting information in such a way that its negative implications could only be understood by someone with a high degree of sophistication.” Id. Third, for the reasons discussed above with respect to Firestone, the evidence supports a finding of “self-interested motivation of defendants in the form of saving their salaries or jobs.” Id. Fourth, for the reasons discussed in the context of Firestone but also applicable to Bridgestone, the existence of ancillary claims by consumers and State Farm Insurance, lawsuits, and settlements based on claims alleging harm from unsafe ATX tires, and Firestone‘s quick and secret settlements of such claims, arguably is also probative of Bridgestone‘s recklessness as to the truth of its “No Impairment” representation.
The four other Helwig factors admittedly are not probative of scienter. As to the “closeness in time of an allegedly fraudulent statement or omission and the later disclosure of inconsistent information,”
Nonetheless, considering the totality of the circumstances, in particular the divergence of internal and external statements with respect to clearly material information going to one of Bridgestone‘s major flagship brands, “the facts argued collectively ... give rise to a strong inference of at least recklessness” as to the truth of its “No Impairment” representation. PR Diamonds, 364 F.3d at 691.30 The Retirement Fund has therefore adequately pleaded scienter with respect to its claim against Bridgestone for that representation.
ii. Bridgestone‘s Scienter as to Its “No Loss” Representation
We turn now to analyze whether the facts as pleaded give rise to a strong inference of recklessness by Bridgestone as to its representation in the 1999 Annual Report that there were no actual, material losses connected to the lawsuits and responses to the regulatory scrutiny of the ATX tires. Again, we think the key factor here is the “divergence between internal reports and external statements on the same subject.” Helwig, 251 F.3d at 552. As discussed, Ono, Bridgestone‘s Executive Vice-President, met at least quarterly with Firestone‘s senior management group from 1997 to 1999, the financial group, the quality group, and the public relations / marketing department and in those meetings discussed the tread-peeling claims lodged against Bridgestone (as well as against Firestone). Assuming the truth of the Complaint‘s allegations, these discussions addressed the lawsuits, claim settlements, and informal complaints that led to investigations by governmental authorities in Arizona, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the secret settlements with State Farm under which Firestone reimbursed State Farm for accidents allegedly caused by ATX tire failures. Ono‘s awareness of the claims as gleaned from these meetings is directly attributable to Bridgestone31 because “knowledge of a corporate officer or agent acting within the scope of [his] authority is attributable to the corporation.” 2 Thomas Lee Hazen, Treatise on the Law of Securities Regulation § 12.8[4], at 444 (4th ed.2002); cf. Adams v. Kinder-Morgan, 340 F.3d at 1106 (“[t]he scienter of the senior controlling officers of a corporation may be attributed to the corporation itself to establish liability as a primary violator of
Two facts reinforce the notion that Bridgestone knew or should have known that it was taking heavy losses via claims settlement resulting from alleged problems
There is, as with the other two actionable statements and for the reasons previously stated, evidence of the existence of ancillary lawsuits and Firestone‘s quick settlement of those suits, of disregard of the most current factual information before making statements, of disclosure of accounting information in such a way that its negative implications could only be understood by someone with a high degree of sophistication, and of the self-interested motivation of defendants in the form of saving their salaries or jobs. Also like the analysis of the “No Impairment” representation, there is a lack of probative evidence as to the remaining Helwig factors.
Again, given this totality of circumstances, “the facts argued collectively ... give rise to a strong inference of at least recklessness” by Bridgestone as to the truth of its “no loss” representation. PR Diamonds, 364 F.3d at 683. The Retirement Fund has therefore also adequately pled scienter with respect to its claim against Bridgestone for this representation.
c. Scienter as to Ono
The Complaint attributes to Ono, as an individual corporate officer of Firestone and Bridgestone, all of the alleged misrepresentations of those two corporate defendants. The Retirement Fund seeks to attach liability to Ono based on his status as Firestone CEO and Bridgestone Executive Vice-President when those two companies issued the alleged misrepresentations. The Retirement Fund argues that “Ono is Liable for Firestone‘s and Bridgestone‘s statements under the group-published doctrine and inference,” also known as the “group-pleading” doctrine. Appellant‘s Br. at 48. The district court dismissed the claim against Ono for failure to pleаd scienter. Albeit for different reasons, we agree that the claim against Ono should have been dismissed.
At least two circuits have specifically recognized a “group pleading” exception to the pleading-with-particularity requirements of
Firestone argues that this doctrine runs afoul of the amended pleading requirements embodied in the Reform Act, which requires, for adequate pleading of scienter, that a federal securities fraud complaint state the relevant facts “with particularity.”
We need not decide here the current viability of the group-published doctrine because resolution of that question is not required to decide this case. The Complaint pleads, regarding Ono, little more than his corporate titles, dates of employment and resignation, and attendance at the quarterly meetings. The Retirement Fund does not allege by direct allegation or even upon information and belief that Ono played any role in drafting, reviewing, or approving the Firestone‘s “objective data” representation or the Bridgestone annual reports, 1999 or any other years. Nor does it allege that he was, as a matter of practice, or by job description, typically involved in the creation of such documents. Even if we permit the group-pleading inference, these alleged facts, without more, are not enough to attribute the alleged misstatements to Ono. See, e.g., Johnson v. Tellabs, Inc., 262 F.Supp.2d 937, 946-47 (N.D.Ill.2003) (“Even if the group pleading doctrine survives the [Reform Act], ... [a] plaintiff is ... required at least to include allegations ... relating to an individual defendant‘s duties ... that create a presumption that the company‘s statement was somehow ... attributable to an individual defendant. Simply alleging an individual defendant‘s title is not enough.“); In re Baan Co., 103 F.Supp.2d at 18 (noting that to satisfy the group-pleading doctrine, a complaint “must identify the roles of the individual defendants, and describe their involvement, if any, in preparing the misleading statements“). Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not err in dismissing the claims in the Complaint against Ono.34
III. CONCLUSION
To summarize, we hold that: (1) the district court did not err in granting Kaizaki‘s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction; (2) because the Complaint, for Firestone‘s August 1, 2000 statement that “[w]e continually monitor the performance of all our tire lines, and the objective data clearly reinforces our belief that these are high-quality, safe tires,” adequately alleges an actionable statement
To withstand the
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
PENNY/OHLMANN/NIEMAN, INC. et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
MIAMI VALLEY PENSION CORP. et al., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 03-3812.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Submitted: Sept. 21, 2004.
Decided and Filed: March 4, 2005.