Securities and Exchange Commission v. Donna Yun, Jerry Burch

327 F.3d 1263, 14 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 819, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 7155, 2003 WL 1878556
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 2003
Docket01-14490
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 327 F.3d 1263 (Securities and Exchange Commission v. Donna Yun, Jerry Burch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Donna Yun, Jerry Burch, 327 F.3d 1263, 14 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 819, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 7155, 2003 WL 1878556 (11th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

*1267 TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

This is an insider trading case, brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b),' and (SEC) Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, against Donna Yun and Jerry Burch. Answering special verdicts, a jury found that the defendants had “violated Section 10(b)” under the “misappropriation theory” of liability. Acting on those verdicts, the district court entered judgment against the defendants, holding them “jointly liable” for $269,000, the profits generated by the prohibited trading, plus prejudgment interest, and individually liable for a penalty in the sum of $1,000. SEC v. Yun, 148 F.Supp.2d 1287 (M.D.Fla.2001). 1

Yun and Burch now appeal, contending that the district court erred in denying their motions for judgment as a matter of law and, alternatively, that the court erred in instructing the jury on elements of the misappropriation theory of liability. 2

I. 3

A.

Donna Yun is married to David Yun, the president of Scholastic Book Fairs, Inc., a subsidiary of Scholastic Corporation (“Scholastic”), a publisher and distributor of children’s books whose stock is quoted on the NASDAQ National Market System and whose option contracts are traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. On January 27, 1997, David attended a senior management retreat at which Scholastic’s chief financial officer revealed that the company would post a loss for the current quarter, and that before the quarter ended, the company would, make a public announcement revising its earnings forecast downward. He cautioned the assembled executives not to sell any of their Scholastic holdings until after the announcement, which would likely result in a decline in the market price of Scholastic shares, and warned them to keep the matter confidential. Approximately two weeks later, on February 13, Scholastic’s chief financial officer informed David that the negative earnings announcement would be made on February 20.

Over the weekend of February 15-16, David and Donna discussed a statement of assets that he had provided her in connection with their negotiation of a post-nuptial division of assets. David explained to Donna that he had assigned a $55 value to his Scholastic options listed on the asset statement, even though Scholastic’s stock was then trading at $65 per share, because he believed that the price of the shares would drop following Scholastic’s February 20 earnings announcement. He also told her not to disclose this, information to anyone else, and she agreed to keep the information confidential. 4

*1268 The following Tuesday, February 18, Donna went to her place of work — a real estate office located in a nearby housing development. 5 The office was a small sales trailer, approximately eleven by thirteen feet, that Donna shared with other real estate agents, including Jerry Burch. During the late morning or early afternoon, Donna telephoned Sam Weiss — the attorney assisting her in negotiating the post-nuptial division of assets — from her office to discuss David’s statement of assets. While she was speaking to Weiss, Burch entered the office to gather materials for a real estate client. Standing three to four feet from Donna, Burch heard her tell Weiss what David had said about Scholastic’s impending earnings announcement and that David expected the price of the company’s shares to fall. As he testified at trial, Burch did not learn enough from what he overheard to feel “comfortable” trading in Scholastic’s stock.

That evening, Donna and Burch attended a real estate awards banquet at the Isleworth Country Club. Donna, Burch, and another agent, Maryann Hartmann, carpooled to the reception. All three stayed at the reception for three hours and left together.

The next morning Burch called his broker and requested authority to purchase put options in Scholastic. 6 When the broker advised Burch that he knew of no new information indicating the price of Scholastic stock would decline, Burch stated that based on information he had obtained at a cocktail party, he nonetheless wanted to purchase the put options. The broker warned Burch of the risks of trading in options, and cautioned him about insider trading prohibitions. 7 Despite these warnings, between the afternoon of February 19 and midday on February 20, Burch purchased $19,750 in Scholastic put options, which was equal to two-thirds of his total income for the previous year and nearly half the value of his entire investment portfolio. 8

After the stock market closed on February 20, Scholastic announced that its earnings would be well below the analysts’ expectations. When, the market opened the next day, the price of Scholastic shares had dropped approximately 40 percent to $36 per share. Burch then sold his Scholastic puts, realizing a profit of $269,000 — a 1,300 percent return on his investment. Within hours, the SEC commenced an investigation of Burch’s trades to determine whether insider trading had occurred. The investigation culminated in the present lawsuit. In a one-count complaint, the SEC alleged that Donna and Burch had violated section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5, 9 and sought both legal and *1269 equitable relief. 10

B.

There are two theories of insider trading liability: the “classical theory” and the “misappropriation theory.” The classical theory imposes liability on corporate “insiders” who trade on the basis of confidential information obtained by reason of their position with the corporation. 11 The liability is based on the notion that a corporate insider breaches “a ... [duty] of trust and confidence” to the shareholders of his corporation. United States v. O’Hagan, 521 U.S. 642, 652, 117 S.Ct. 2199, 2207, 138 L.Ed.2d 724 (1997). The misappropriation theory, on the other hand, imposes liability on “outsiders” who trade on the basis of confidential information obtained by reason of their relationship with the person possessing such information, usually an insider. 12 The liability under the latter theory is based on the notion that the outsider breaches “a duty of loyalty and confidentiality” to the person who shared the confidential information with him. Id. at 652,117 S.Ct. at 2207. 13

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Bluebook (online)
327 F.3d 1263, 14 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 819, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 7155, 2003 WL 1878556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-and-exchange-commission-v-donna-yun-jerry-burch-ca11-2003.