Court Opinion

ID: 9426131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:16:55.988414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:59.200753
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Brennan,
with whom Mr. Justice Douglas joins, dissenting.
I dissent. Judge Pell, dissenting below, correctly in my view, read the decision of the Court of Appeals to construe the Williams Act, as I also construe it, to authorize injunctive relief upon the application of the management interests “irrespective of motivation, irrespective of irreparable harm to the corporation, and irrespective of whether the purchases were detrimental to investors in the company’s stock. The violation timewise is . . . all that is needed to trigger this result.” 500 F. 2d 1011, 1018 (CA7 1974). In other words, the Williams Act is a prophylactic measure conceived by Congress as necessary to effect the congressional objective “that investors and management be notified at the earliest possible moment of the potential for a shift in corporate control.” Id., at 1016. The violation itself establishes the actionable harm and no showing of other harm is necessary to secure injunctive relief. Today’s holding completely undermines the congressional purpose to preclude inquiry into the results of the violation.