Marbury Management, Inc. v. Kohn

470 F. Supp. 509, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12804
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 25, 1979
Docket72 Civ. 5121
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 470 F. Supp. 509 (Marbury Management, Inc. v. Kohn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marbury Management, Inc. v. Kohn, 470 F. Supp. 509, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12804 (S.D.N.Y. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

GAGLIARDI, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Marbury Management, Inc., Harry Bader and Harvey Jaffe commenced this action against the brokerage firm of Wood, Walker & Co. (“Wood Walker”) and its employee, Alfred Kohn, alleging violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act"), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. § 77q, and common law fraud. 1 Jurisdiction is predicated upon 15 U.S.C. §§ 78aa, 77v and principles of pendent jurisdiction. This action was tried to the court and, at the conclusion of the evidence, the court granted Wood Walker’s motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that plaintiffs failed to prove a prima facie case against it (Tr. 188-90). The court reserved decision as to defendant Kohn’s motion to dismiss the complaint against him.

Plaintiffs are former customers of defendant Wood Walker, a stock brokerage firm. 2 The complaint alleges that, beginning during the summer of 1967, Alfred Kohn falsely held himself out to be a licensed registered representative employed by Wood Walker. Plaintiffs claim that they placed buy and sell orders with Wood Walker through Kohn 3 in reliance upon his training and expertise. (Complaint, at ¶¶ 10, 37, 64). The complaint further alleges that Kohn offered advice to the plaintiffs regarding the investment potential of certain securities; that he represented that his opinion was “based upon personal conversations and meetings with officers and other persons who had unique information as to the transactions of the corporation and their effect on the market price”; and that Kohn knew that his representations were false when he made them but offered them in order to induce the plaintiffs to purchase certain stocks. (Id. ¶¶ 18-20, 42-45, 70-73). Wood Walker, it is alleged, permitted Kohn to hold himself out as a registered representative when it either knew or should have known that he was not so licensed. (Id. at ¶¶ 12-13, 39-40, 66-67). Based upon the aforesaid actions of the defendants, the complaint alleges three causes of action on behalf of each of the plaintiffs: violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act (and Rule 10(b)(5) thereunder), Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and fraud under the law of New York. The following constitutes this court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52(a), Fed.R.Civ.P. Plaintiffs Marbury Management and Bader have proved their claims under § 10(b) and therefore are entitled to recover damages from Kohn. Plaintiff, Jaffe, however, has not proved all of the requisite elements of a § 10(b) cause of action and therefore is not entitled to relief. Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s dismissal of the complaint against Wood Walker pursuant to Rule 60(b), Fed. R.Civ.P. is also denied.

Discussion

1. 10(b) Claims Against Defendant Kohn

It is well established that an implied cause of action under § 10(b) will lie only if *512 the plaintiffs can prove that the defendant willfully misstated or omitted a material fact which caused the plaintiff injury in connection with his purchase or sale of a security. Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder, 425 U.S. 185, 197, 96 S.Ct. 1375, 47 L.Ed.2d 668 (1976) (knowing or intentional conduct required); TSC Industries Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 426 U.S. 438, 449, 96 S.Ct. 2126, 48 L.Ed.2d 757 (1976) (misstatement or omission must be material); Affiliated Ute Citizens v. United States, 406 U.S. 128, 153-54, 92 S.Ct. 1456, 31 L.Ed.2d 741 (1972); Titan Group Inc. v. Faggen, 513 F.2d 234, 237 (2d Cir. 1975) (causation still a necessary element in some private 10(b) actions); Blue Chip Stamp v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723, 730-31, 95 S.Ct. 1917, 44 L.Ed.2d 539 (1975) (plaintiff must be a purchaser or seller of securities).

The complaint in this case alleges that Kohn made two types of misstatements giving rise to a private cause of action under § 10(b): (1) numerous predictions concerning the future earning capacities and proposed acquisitions of various companies, and (2) representations that he was a “portfolio management specialist.” As to the first set of alleged misstatements, plaintiffs claim that Kohn stated that “he had a relative on the board of directors . of [DWG] corporation” and that the stock “should go up in price” (Gold Tr. 30) (Jaffe Tr. 90); that investors in Commuter Airlines Co. were likely to earn a “big return” (Bader Tr. 61) (Jaffe Tr. 100); that Capital Holding and Stanrock Uranium were “good stocks” which should return a profit (Bader Tr. 63-64); and that a favorable newspaper article regarding the Responsive Environment Co. would soon be published (Gold Tr. 33) (Bader Tr. 62). Although the plaintiffs claim that Kohn knew that these representations were false when he made them (Complaint ¶¶ 20, 47, 74), nothing in the record supports this conclusion. On the contrary, Robert Gold, President of plaintiff Marbury Management, testified that he did not believe that Kohn was making fraudulent statements (Tr. 31, 41), and plaintiff Jaffe conceded that certain information and investment advice that Kohn gave to him may have been true (Tr. 116). Nor does the mere fact that the defendant’s predictions did not materialize indicate that the statements were untrue at the time of issuance. See A. Jacobs, What is Misleading Statement or Omission under Rule 10b-5, 42 Fordham L.Rev. 243, 284 (1973) citing inter alia Dolgow v. Anderson, 53 F.R.D. 664, 670, 676-79 (E.D.N.Y.1971) (intervening cause); Milberg v. Western Pac. R.R., 51 F.R.D. 280, 282 (S.D.N.Y.1970) (cannot reasonably expect projections to be infallible in all situations). A false prediction, however, may be actionable if the plaintiff establishes that the statements, whether characterized as either fact or opinion, 4 were not prepared in a reasonable manner or with a firm basis. SEC v. Okin, 137 F.2d 862, 864 (2d Cir. 1943); REA Express v. Interway Corp., 410 F.Supp. 192, 197 (S.D.N.Y.1976) citing Marx v. Computer Sciences Corp., 507 F.2d 485, 490 (9th Cir. 1974); Schuller v. Slick Corp., [1974-1975 *513

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Bluebook (online)
470 F. Supp. 509, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marbury-management-inc-v-kohn-nysd-1979.