Opinion ID: 480439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: full and final release

Text: Effective as of the Closing, Hamilton and Trustee hereby release, remise and forever discharge Dumore, all past, present and future agents, officers, directors, employees and shareholders of Dumore, the Voting Trustees of the Dumore Company Voting Trust, and their respective heirs, executors, personal representatives and other legal representatives of any kind, and each and all of their successors and assigns of and from any and all claims, demands, rights, liabilities and causes of action of whatsoever kind or nature that Hamilton and/or Trustee have ever had may now have or may thereafter have, whether now known or unknown, foreseen or unforeseen, arising from or by reason of or in any way related to (i) any matter, cause, act, omission or thing occurring prior to the Closing, and/or (ii) the ownership of Dumore stock by Trustee and/or Hamilton and any past, present or future opportunity to sell, or sale, by Dumore and/or the shareholders of Dumore of the stock of Dumore or all or substantially all of the assets of Dumore. 3 Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Sec. 29(a), 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78cc(a). Section 29(a) provides: Any condition, stipulation, or provision binding any person to waive compliance with any provision of this chapter or of any rule or regulation thereunder, or of any rule of an exchange required thereby shall be void. 4 Hamilton, Sr. wrote to Hamilton, Jr. on December 7, 1982 and stated: We are not nor will we ever be interested in selling our stock to you. This has been stated repeatedly by letter and confirmed by the way you ran the company under your management, where you constantly overspent corporate funds. (emphasis in original) This letter, incidentally, does not state that Hamilton, Sr. would not sell to anybody; but rather only that he would not sell to Hamilton, Jr. 5 Although the facts unmistakably show that there is no misrepresentation in this case, we also note that Hamilton, Jr. could not prove that he relied upon any acts or statements by the defendants. In Michaels v. Michaels, 767 F.2d 1185 (7th Cir.1985), we were faced with a situation where the failure to disclose the impending sale of a family firm gave rise to a violation of 10b-5. This case is readily distinguishable from Michaels, because Hamilton, Jr. had sufficient notice to make him aware that Hamilton, Sr. was likely to sell to someone else In Teamsters Local 282 Pension Trust Fund v. Angelos, 762 F.2d 522 (7th Cir.1985), we once again were faced with the reliance requirement. We stated that someone who was aware of a high probability of a fact may not rely on silence about that fact. Id. at 530. In this case, the facts conclusively show: that Hamilton, Jr. was aware of the high probability that Hamilton Sr. would sell the business; that Hamilton, Jr. did not inquire as to whether the business would be sold; and that Hamilton, Sr. did not actually represent that he would never sell the family business. We believe, therefore, that Hamilton, Jr. could not rely on Hamilton, Sr.'s silence as a failure to reveal the material fact that Hamilton, Sr. might sell the firm. 6 The district court's alternative holding was that even if the release was void, Hamilton, Jr. had, nevertheless, ratified the release. We need not decide, however, whether equitable defenses should be allowed to be raised by a defendant to a Sec. 29(a) action