Court Opinion

ID: 9443555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:24:44.291442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:32.254135
License: Public Domain

STALEY, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I agree with the conclusion arrived at by the majority, but I would follow a different path to get there. I think that the majority has opened a Pandora’s box when it permits inquiry into motives or hidden sentiments by corporate officials or by the courts in order to determine whether one has assented to or dissented from a corporate act. This would impose an intolerable burden of inquiry upon those who conduct corporate elections, and, as a precedent, would open a new door to litigation with regard to corporate affairs. It is an unmistakable invitation to so-called “strike suits.”
The statute, when read as a whole, indicates that the appraisal provisions are open only to those who are shareholders at the time the consolidation agreement is promulgated by the directors, for they are the only ones who have a choice thrust upon them. Willy-nilly, they must decide whether to consent to or disapprove of a substantial change in the corporation. Those who acquire shares after the promulgation of the agreement do so in the face of the proposed consolidation. This view is confirmed by the legislative history, quoted by the majority. It.also has received judicial recognition in cases construing statutes substantially identical to that under consideration here. Application of Stern, Sup.Ct.1948, 82 N.Y.S.2d 78. See also In re Leventall, 1934, 241 App.Div. 277, 271 N.Y.S. 493, 1st Dept. This test avoids the necessity of determining whether there has been a real, or only a pretended, dissent. As said in the Stern case, supra, 82 N.Y.S.2d at page 82, it is a “test which is objective and consonant with commercial transactions.”