Shareholders Management Company v. Fred F. Gregory

Appellants Shareholders Management Company (“Shareholders”) and others brought a declaratory relief action in the district court seeking an adjudication of the validity of a claimed federal defense to an action in a state court in California filed against them by the ap-pellees. In the state court action, appel-lees sued appellants, claiming that appellants had interfered with the performance of a contract between appellees and appellant Sprinkel, former president of Shareholders, whereby Sprinkel agreed to sell to appellees stock in Shareholders that Sprinkel had acquired by exercising an…