LECOR, INC., and Luminall Paints, Inc., Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, Respondent

This is a petition for a writ of mandamus, directing the district court to vacate its stay of a federal action pending in that court. We grant the writ.

On April 15, 1973, Bernard L. Samson (“Samson”), formerly the president and chief operating officer of petitioner Lu-minall Paints, Inc. (“Luminall”), brought an action in the Superior Court of California for breach of employment and consulting contracts. He subsequently amended his complaint to add claims for damages and specific performance under a registration and redemption agreement.

On July 26, 1973, Luminall and petitioner Lecor, Inc. (“Lecor”) brought an action in federal district court against Samson and the auditing firm of Seid-man and Seidman (“Seidman”) for misrepresentations with respect to a stock transaction between Lecor and Luminall. The complaint alleged violations of federal securities statutes and state common law.

Both the state court answer and the district court complaint involve a transaction in 1972 whereby Lecor acquired all of a new issue of 2,000,000 shares of Luminall stock. The gist of both pleadings appears to be that the purchase price of the stock was excessive and that Lecor would not…