ARNOLD M. WEINBERG, APPELLANT,
v.
GEORGE D. PENNINGTON, A/K/A DON PENNINGTON, RITA PENNINGTON AND CHARLES V. GRAUL, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1985-01-29
No. 84-935
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HUB-BART and JORGENSON, JJ.
462 So. 2d 862 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1985) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

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Holding

The court held that the sale of unregistered securities violated Florida law because the seller failed to provide full and fair disclosure of material information, rendering the exemption inapplicable.


Headnotes

[1] A securities exemption from registration requirements is unavailable if the seller fails to provide purchasers with full and fair disclosure of all material information.

[2] The burden of proof rests on the party claiming a securities exemption to establish all statutory conditions for that exemption.

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Facts & Procedural History

Weinberg purchased stock in a new corporation that subsequently failed. He sued the corporation and its principals for fraud and the sale of unregiste…

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Opinion of the Court
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

In 1980, Weinberg paid $10,000 for 150 shares of Associated Industries, Inc., a newly formed corporation engaged in the meatpacking business in Honduras. When the company perhaps predictably went (pork) belly up, Weinberg sued the corporation and three of its principals, the present appellees, for rescission of the transaction and other attendant relief. § 517.211, Fla. Stat. (1981). The action was based on theories of common law fraud, fraudulent sale of securities contrary to § 517.301, Fla. Stat. (1981), and the sale of unregistered securities in violation of § 517.07, Fla.Stat. (1981). After a paper default judgment was entered against the defunct corporation for its failure to make discovery, the cause proceeded to a non-jury trial against the individual defendants. The trial court found that no fraud of any variety had been established and that the transaction in question was exempted from the registration requirement pursuant to § 517.-061(12)(a), Fla.Stat. (1981).1 Judgment was consequently entered for the defendants and Weinberg appeals.

While the evidence supports and we thus may not disturb the trial court’s findings against the plaintiff as to fraud, Laufer v. Norma Fashions, Inc., 418 So. 2d 437 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), we find otherwise on the unregistered securities count. The exemption contained in § 517.061(12)(a) applies only if all five specified statutory conditions are established, an issue upon which the parties relying upon the exemption, the appellees, bear the burden of proof. § 517.171, Fla.Stat. (1981); State v. Buchman, 361 So. 2d 692 (Fla.1978). In this case, it affirmatively appears without contradiction that the transaction did not conform with condition 3,2 which requires that

[pjrior to the sale, each purchaser or his representative, if any, [be] provided with, or given reasonable access to, full and fair disclosure of all material information.

Specifically, among other things, Weinberg was neither told of the existence of a highly unfavorable report by the Price, Wa-terhouse accounting firm concerning the corporation’s financial status, nor given equivalent information, or means of access to it, about that vital issue. Cf. Thiele v. Davidson, 440 F.Supp. 585 (M.D.Fla.1977), aff’d, 612 F. 2d 578 (5th Cir.1980); Krutel v. Stolberg, 356 So. 2d 1299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). This failure alone establishes the unavailability of the exemption applied below.

The basis of the lower court’s decision rendered it unnecessary for it to consider whether any or all of the present appellees were individually liable under § 517.211(2), Fla.Stat. (1981).3 We find, as we did in Artistic Door Corp. v. Rheney, 384 So. 2d 179, 182 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), pet. for review denied, 392 So. 2d 1371 (Fla. 1980), that the activities of George Pennington, the primary actor in the sale to Weinberg, were such as to render him liable as a matter of law. The liability, if any, of Rita Pennington and Charles V. Graul, is, however, subject to the resolution of disputed questions of fact and may therefore be determined only after trial by the lower court.

For these reasons, the judgment under review is reversed and the cause remanded for the entry of an appropriate judgment for Weinberg against George Pennington and for trial on the issue of the individual liability of Rita Pennington and Charles Y. Graul.

Reversed and remanded.

.The registration provisions of s. 517.07 do not apply to any of the following transactions:

**

(12)(a) The offer or sale, by or on behalf of an issuer, of its own securities, which offer or sale is part of an offering made in accordance with all of the following conditions:

1. There are no more than 35 purchasers, or the issuer reasonably believes that there are no more than 35 purchasers, of the securities of the issuer in this state during an offering made in reliance upon this subsection or, if such offering continues for a period in excess of 12 months, in any consecutive 12-month period.

2. Neither the issuer nor any person acting on behalf of the issuer offers or sells securities pursuant to this subsection by means of any form of general solicitation or general advertising in this state.

3. Prior to the sale, each purchaser or his representative, if any, is provided with, or given reasonable access to, full and fair disclosure of all material information.

4. No person defined as a dealer in this chapter is paid a commission or compensation for the sale of the issuer’s securities unless such person is registered as a dealer under this chapter. 5. When sales are made to five or more persons in this state, any sale in this state made pursuant to this subsection shall be voidable by the purchaser in such sale either within 3 days after the first tender of consideration is made by such purchaser to the issuer, an agent of the issuer, or an escrow agent or within 3 days after the availability of that privilege is communicated to such purchaser, whichever occurs later. . We need not decide whether, as the appellant claims, the defendants failed in their burden to establish any other conditions to (12)(a).

. (2) Any person purchasing or selling a security in violation of s. 517.301, and every director, officer, partner, or agent of or for the purchaser or seller, if the director, officer, partner, or agent has personally participated or aided in making the sale or purchase, shall be jointly and severally liable to the person selling the security to or purchasing the security from such person in an action for rescission, if the plaintiff still owns the security, or for damages, if the plaintiff has sold the security.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Moecker v. Antoine, 845 So. 2d 904 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)
    ….061(ll)(a), Florida Statutes (1997).3 This exemption “applies only if all five specified statutory conditions are es [*908] tablished, an issue upon which the parties relying upon the exemption ... bear the burden of proof.” Weinberg v. Pennington, 462 So. 2d 862, 863 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); see also § 517.171, Fla. Stat. (1997). When sales of securities are made to five or more persons in Florida, a fact not in dispute here, subparagraph 5 of subsection 517.061(ll)(a) makes the purchase voidable “either within…
  • Barnebey v. E.F. Hutton & Co., 715 F. Supp. 1512 (M.D. Fla. 1989)
    …ring memorandum, Plaintiff Miller’s motion for summary judgment must be denied. The party relying on the exemption bears the burden of proof on the issue of whether or not all five of the conditions have been satisfied. Weinberg v. Pennington, 462 So.2d 862 (Fla. 3d D.C.A.1985). The Florida statute clearly requires, that where five or more persons purchase such unregistered securities, the sale is voidable within three (3) days of either: 1) the first tender of consideration from purchaser to issue…
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