Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Schriver

541 S.W.2d 799, 1976 Tenn. App. LEXIS 237
Court of Appeals of Tennessee·Decided May 27, 1976·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MATHERNE, Judge.

The issue at bar is whether, under Tennessee law, a futures contract made through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange constitutes an illegal gaming transaction.

I.

The defendant Schriver, through the plaintiff Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Incorporated, entered into certain sell order agreements for 42 carloads (contracts of 36,000 pounds each) of February, 1975 pork bellies, which transactions began on September 23, 1974 and were concluded September 26, 1974. As a result of these contracts and the action of the market in the commodity, the defendant allegedly lost $40,620. The defendant executed a promissory note in favor of the plaintiff in the face amount of $28,572 as settlement of the amount due under these transactions. The note became in default, and the plaintiff sues to collect the balance due of $23,572, plus interest. The defendant, by answer, claims that the note is void because it constitutes payment for a gaming transaction as contemplated by T.C.A. § 39-2020.1

[801]*801The defendant filed a counter-claim to recover the $40,620 he allegedly lost in the transactions. The plaintiff answered the counter-claim, alleging that the transactions did not violate T.C.A. § 39 — 2020, and that the transactions are legal and enforceable pursuant to the provisions of T.C.A. § 39-2028.

The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment and attached thereto the affidavit of the manager of the plaintiff’s Knoxville, Tennessee office. This affidavit was to the effect that the transactions for the defendant were executed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a legitimate produce and commodity exchange; that the transactions were accomplished in full conformity with the rules, regulations, customs and usages of that exchange and the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture; that the transactions for the defendant were handled in accordance with a Commodity Account Agreement which defendant had entered into with the plaintiff (copy attached); that the transactions were evidenced by confirmation documents (representative copy attached); and, that the plaintiff, at the time of the execution of the transactions, contemplated delivery as and when delivery became due.

The defendant filed his counter-affidavit to the effect that he began buying and selling commodities for future delivery in 1973. At no time did he accept or deliver in specie; he was never asked by the plaintiff if he intended to deliver or accept the commodity in specie; at the time he placed the order to sell the frozen pork bellies, he did not intend to deliver the same in specie, and he is of the opinion that the representative of the plaintiff with whom he dealt did not expect or intend that the commodity be delivered in specie; that at all times it was his intention to deal simply for the margin or the prospective fall in the price of pork bellies and to buy and offset as soon as a satisfactory decrease in price was realized, or, alternatively, in the event of a rise in price, to sell as soon as possible to minimize the loss; that it is his understanding, which he proposes to prove at the trial, that at any given time there are approximately 10 times more pork bellies contracted for than are in existence; and, that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange does not unconditionally require both the buyer to accept and the seller to make actual delivery on all transactions entered into upon that exchange, as is required by law to constitute a “legitimate exchange” under T.C.A. § 89-2028.

By supplementary affidavit, the defendant alleges, and attaches supporting exhibits, that the offsetting which takes place on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is far more than a mere substitution of parties as allowed by T.C.A. § 39-2028. The defendant claims that during the month of March 1973, the number of open commitments was for 2,693 carloads of pork bellies, and these commitments were, during that month, reduced to zero; but, of those commitments, only 409 were discharged by actual delivery. The defendant argues that these figures reflect the procedure by which offset is practiced on that exchange so as to effect a “wash-out” of about 80% or more of the contracts, thus enabling the gambling sellers and the gambling buyers to settle their wagers.

The trial judge sustained the motion for summary judgment and entered a judgment in favor of the plaintiff for $23,572, plus interest at 10%. The defendant appeals from that decision.

The parties agree that the issues presented in this lawsuit are identical to those considered by Judge Robert L. Taylor, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Northern Division, in the lawsuits of Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis v. Lambert and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Lambert, 389 F.Supp. 417, opinion filed on January 27, 1975.2

[802]*802The trial judge adopted the reasoning and result reached in Lambert as the law of this state relative to the issue at bar.

II.

We first agree with Judge Taylor that the application of Chapter 251, Public Acts 1883 must be kept distinct and separate from Chapter 94, Public Acts 1919.

The 1883 Act, codified as T.C.A. § 39-2020, heretofore copied, declares as gaming any contract for future delivery where either of the parties, buyer or seller, is dealing simply for a margin, or on the prospective rise or fall in the price of the thing sold, and where either of the contracting parties has no intention or purpose of making actual delivery or receiving the property or thing in specie.

According to this record, the defendant was dealing simply for a margin, and he had no intent to make actual delivery of the pork bellies he contracted to sell. Under Section 39 — 2020 the contract was a gaming transaction, and the loss suffered by the plaintiff would be unenforceable as against the defendant.

The plaintiff, however, counters with the argument that the transactions are legal under the provisions of Chapter 94, Public Acts 1919, codified as T.C.A. §§ 39-2023 through 39-2029. The statute defines a “bucket shop” and declares that transactions which fall within that definition are illegal and unlawful. The definition of a “bucket shop” as set out in the 1919 Act is codified at T.C.A. § 39-2023, as follows:

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Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Schriver, 541 S.W.2d 799, 1976 Tenn. App. LEXIS 237 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1976).

541 S.W.2d 799 (Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Schriver) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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515 F. Supp. 202 (N.D. Alabama, 1981)