Basic, Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988)
Basic, Inc. v. Levinson
No. 86-279
Argued November 2, 1987
Decided March 7, 1988
485 U.S. 224
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 10b-5, promulgated under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Act), prohibits, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security, the making of any untrue statement of a material fact or the omission of a material fact that would render statements made not misleading. In December 1978, Combustion Engineering, Inc., and Basic Incorporated agreed to merge. During the preceding two years, representatives of the two companies had various meetings and conversations regarding the possibility of a merger; during that time Basic made three public statements denying that any merger negotiations were taking place or that it knew of any corporate developments that would account for heavy trading activity in its stock. Respondents, former Basic shareholders who sold their stock between Basic’s first public denial of merger activity and the suspension of trading in Basic stock just prior to the merger announcement, filed a class action against Basic and some of its directors, alleging that Basic’s statements had been false or misleading, in violation of § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, and that respondents were injured by selling their shares at prices artificially depressed by those statements. The District Court certified respondents’ class, but granted summary judgment for petitioners on the merits. The Court of Appeals affirmed the class certification, agreeing that, under a "fraud-on-the-market" theory, respondents’ reliance on petitioners’ misrepresentations could be presumed, and thus that common issues predominated over questions pertaining to individual plaintiffs. The Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment and remanded, rejecting the District Court’s view that preliminary merger discussions are immaterial as a matter of law, and holding that even discussions that might not otherwise have been material become so by virtue of a statement denying their existence.
Held:
1. The standard set forth in TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 426 U.S. 438, whereby an omitted fact is material if there is a substantial likelihood that its disclosure would have been considered significant by a reasonable investor, is expressly adopted for the § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 context. Pp. 230-232.
2. The "agreement-in-principle" test, under which preliminary merger discussions do not become material until the would-be merger partners have reached agreement as to the price and structure of the transaction, is rejected as a bright-line materiality test. Its policy-based rationales do not justify the exclusion of otherwise significant information from the definition of materiality. Pp. 232-236.
3. The Court of Appeals’ view that information concerning otherwise insignificant developments becomes material solely because of an affirmative denial of their existence is also rejected: Rule 10b-5 requires that the statements be misleading as to a
material fact. Pp. 237-238.
4. Materiality in the merger context depends on the probability that the transaction will be consummated, and its significance to the issuer of the securities. Thus, materiality depends on the facts, and is to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Pp. 238-241.
5. The courts below properly applied a presumption of reliance, supported in part by the fraud-on-the-market theory, instead of requiring each plaintiff to show direct reliance on Basic’s statements. Such a presumption relieves the Rule 10b-5 plaintiff of an unrealistic evidentiary burden, and is consistent with, and supportive of, the Act’s policy of requiring full disclosure and fostering reliance on market integrity. The presumption is also supported by common sense and probability: an investor who trades stock at the price set by an impersonal market does so in reliance on the integrity of that price. Because most publicly available information is reflected in market price, an investor’s reliance on any public material misrepresentations may be presumed for purposes of a Rule 10b-5 action. Pp. 241-247.
6. The presumption of reliance may be rebutted: Rule 10b-5 defendants may attempt to show that the price was not affected by their misrepresentation, or that the plaintiff did not trade in reliance on the integrity of the market price. Pp. 248-249.
786 F.2d 741, vacated and remanded.
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, and STEVENS, JJ., joined, and in Parts I, II, and III of which WHITE and O’CONNOR, JJ., joined. WHITE, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which O’CONNOR, J., joined, post, p. 250. REHNQUIST, C.J., and SCALIA and KENNEDY, JJ., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.