NACCO v. Applica

Summary

Five day bench trial.

From CVN's coverage of prior hearings in this litigation...

August 31 hearing on defendant's motion to enforce discovery orders. CVN covered prior hearings in this litigation.

The household appliance company Applica put itself up for sale. Harbinger, a New York hedge fund, then acquired more than 30% of Applica.

The following month, Applica and NACCO Industries, which owned the Hamilton Beach appliance company, announced a merger agreement involving Applica and NACCO's Hamilton Beach unit. However, Harbinger subsequently submitted a competing offer, and bidding contest ensued. NACCO ended up as the losing bidder.

NACCO asserted common law fraud claims against Harbinger and Applica based on statements in SEC filings.

The hearing considered whether a state law fraud claim could be based on statements in a publicly available federal securities filing, and whether Harbinger's investment intentions were misrepresented.

The motions were argued by D. Mark Cave of Paul Weiss, for the defendant, and Philip Le B. Douglas of Jones Day, for the plaintiff.