Shivangi v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.

107 F.R.D. 313, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16454
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedAugust 27, 1985
DocketCiv. A. No. J82-0367(B)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 107 F.R.D. 313 (Shivangi v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shivangi v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 107 F.R.D. 313, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16454 (S.D. Miss. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BARBOUR, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. ' The Court having conducted a hearing on these Motions and having reviewed the substantial briefs and materials submitted by the parties with regard to these Motions, is now prepared to rule on the Motions.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Plaintiffs are two Jackson, Mississippi, doctors who opened an investment account with Dean Witter Reynolds in the Spring of 1981. Defendant Thomas Aitken was their account executive and Defendant James Y. Palmer was a Vice-President of Dean Witter in charge of Dean Witter’s three Mississippi offices. According to the Complaint, Defendant Aitken. called the Plaintiffs and recommended that they purchase 400 shares of Keldon Oil stock which the Plaintiffs did on May 13, 1981. Although the value of Keldon Oil stock rose briefly after the purchase, its price soon began a steady decline and the Plaintiffs sold their stock, on the open market in December of 1981 at a loss.

The Complaint alleges violations of the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j and Rule 10(b) — 5; violation of the Mississippi Securities laws, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 75-71-31 and 75-71-501 (1972); and violations of commonlaw, fraud, deceit and negligence.1

When effecting a trade on a national exchange such as the New York or the American Exchange, Dean Witter generally acts as an agent, effectuating sales of stock between customers A and B. Dean Witter’s account executive receives a commission on the transaction, depending upon the account executive’s productivity. This commission ranges from 2-3% of the price of the transaction. Stocks which are not traded on a national exchange may be traded over-the-counter. Dean Witter and others “make” a market in over-the-counter stocks by offering to buy and sell the stocks at prices published on a national automated computer quotation system (NASDAQ) created by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Dean [316]*316Witter and other market makers in the over-the-counter market generally buy and sell these stocks for their own accounts. However, since they hold themselves out as being able to buy and sell the stocks at the market price, they are required to go outside their own account to purchase stocks on the market if they “sell short” in the stock.

Dean Witter is a market maker and has approximately 25 traders in its New York trading department and others in its San Francisco office. Each trader is assigned about 30 stocks to trade, and has use of approximately $500,000 of Dean Witter’s capital to invest. There are over 2700 stocks on the NASDAQ system and Dean Witter makes a market in approximately 1,000 to 1,200 stocks. All over-the-counter trades in which Dean Witter is a market maker are handled on a principal basis, meaning that Dean Witter sells the stock to the customer out of its own inventory rather than acting as the agent of the customer, unless the customer specifically requests that the transaction be handled on an agency basis. Dean Witter’s Jackson office manager estimated that 75-80% of the over-the-counter trades in which Dean Witter makes a market are handled on a principal basis.

Dean Witter’s compensation for agency trades is referred to as “commission” and for principal trades it is referred to as “mark-up.” Dean Witter’s pricing policy generally results in a price savings to the customer when the transaction is handled on a principal basis as opposed to an agency basis, since the mark-up on a principal trade is rounded down to the nearest Vie below the commission which would be charged if the transaction was handled on an agency basis.2 Dean Witter buys and sells at the best market price available for the stock based upon the NASDAQ quotes without regard to the price paid by Dean Witter for the stock.

Dean Witter aggressively markets the stocks in which it is a market maker through the use of an “Overnight Offering List.” At the close of every trading day, each trader is required to place on the list five stocks in which he has 1,000 shares in inventory. Account executives around the country can review the list on their computer screens. This list shows the net price of each stock and the account executive’s sales credit, that is, his compensation on each stock. Since Dean Witter owns these stocks, account executives can review the list on their computer screens and call customers to solicit trades after market hours. Dr. Sampat Shivangi testified, in fact, that Defendant Aitken called him about 7:30 a.m. to encourage him to buy Keldon Oil. Through the use of this Overnight Offering List, the account executive knows before he contacts a customer how great his sales credit on the transaction will be.3 Sales of the stocks on the Overnight Offering List can produce substantially higher sales credits for the account executive than sales of other over-the-counter stocks, but not necessarily.

The Plaintiffs purchased Keldon stock for 17 V2 per share for a total purchase price of $7,000, which was reflected on the confirmation slip they received within a few days of the transaction. The fact that Dean Witter acted as a principal in the transaction and was a market-maker in the security was stated on the confirmation slip, in conformity with Securities and Exchange Commission rules.4 The Plaintiffs [317]*317allege that the commission on 400 shares of a $17V8 stock would be $154.70, of which the account executive would keep 30% to 40% as his compensation ($46.41-$61.88). In the case of the Keldon Oil stock, Dean Witter gave a sales credit on the transaction which included not only the mark up but also the spread. Dean Witter received a 2V8 spread plus the % mark-up on the 400 shares, yielding a total sales credit of $1,000. The account executive, Aitken, received 40% of the sales credit, or $400. The basis of the Plaintiffs’ suit is that the difference between $46.41 and $400.00 creates a conflict of interest in Dean Witter’s compensation system which should be disclosed to customers.5

The sales credit on the sell side includes only the mark-down and not the spread. Therefore, an account executive gets about the same sales credit on both agency and over-the-counter principal trades when a customer sells a stock. The extra compensation only comes in when a customer buys a stock. The Jackson office manager explained why the account executive gets a bigger sales credit on the buy side:

[T]he broker who is buying it is helping the trader out because he is taking inventory out of his inventory and he is not charging capital expenses and risk. He is taking the risk out of it. So, the Buyer is often paid more.6

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The Defendants have moved for summary judgment on the following issues:

1. Whether the Federal Securities laws require Dean Witter and other market makers to disclose the amount of compensation paid to the account executives in over-the-counter transactions in which Dean Witter acts as a principal and involving trades of stock on its Overnight Offering List;

2.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pickett v. Holland America Line-Westours
6 P.3d 63 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
Pickett v. Holland America Line - Westours, Inc.
101 Wash. App. 901 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
Hill v. Galaxy Telecom, L.P.
184 F.R.D. 82 (N.D. Mississippi, 1999)
Fortenberry v. Foxworth Corp.
825 F. Supp. 1265 (S.D. Mississippi, 1993)
Elliott v. ITT Corp.
150 F.R.D. 569 (N.D. Illinois, 1992)
Geisenberger v. John Hancock Distributors, Inc.
774 F. Supp. 1045 (S.D. Mississippi, 1991)
Krome v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
637 F. Supp. 910 (S.D. New York, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 F.R.D. 313, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shivangi-v-dean-witter-reynolds-inc-mssd-1985.