Securities and Exchange Commission v. Drexel & Co. (348 U.S. 341)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 28, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 348 U.S. 341 · 75 S. Ct. 386
- Docket
- No. 153
- Argued
- February 9, 1955
- Decided
- February 28, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Warren, Justice Black, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Clark, Justice Reed, Justice Minton
- Dissenting
- Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Burton
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. The question in the case is whether the Securities and Exchange Commission has jurisdiction to pass on a fee to be paid by Electric Bond & Share Co. to Drexel & Co. in connection with a reorganization plan filed by its subsidiary, Electric Power & Light Corp., under § 11 (e) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 49 Stat. 803, 15 U. S. C. § 79a et seq. We hold that the Commission does have jurisdiction. The problem arises out of the unraveling and reorganization of the vast empire of Bond & Share, pursuant to the command of the Act. The present case is one of several phases of the various reorganization plans adopted to bring the system into compliance. The instant phase of this system’s reorganization grew out of the filing of a voluntary plan of reorganization under § 11 (e) by Electric. Electric owned operating subsidiaries in several States and in Mexico. The plan provided that (1) Electric would transfer to a new holding company, Middle South Utilities, Inc., its holdings in those operating subsidiaries, as well as certain other assets; (2) preferred stocks of Electric would be retired by distributing to those security holders shares of Middle South and shares of another subsidiary of Electric; (3) the remaining shares of Middle South and the other subsidiary would be distributed to the holders of the…
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