Space v. EF Hutton & Co.

544 N.E.2d 67, 188 Ill. App. 3d 57, 135 Ill. Dec. 710, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1324
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 31, 1989
Docket4-89-0012
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 544 N.E.2d 67 (Space v. EF Hutton & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Space v. EF Hutton & Co., 544 N.E.2d 67, 188 Ill. App. 3d 57, 135 Ill. Dec. 710, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1324 (Ill. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

JUSTICE LUND

delivered the opinion of the court:

On November 21, 1986, plaintiff Dennis Space filed a complaint against defendant E.F. Hutton, seeking to recover $28,000 he lost on a number of transactions in securities, alleging defendant’s agent violated the Illinois Securities Law of 1953 (Securities Law) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 121½, par. 137.1 et seq.). Pursuant to agreement, the case was submitted to the circuit court of Macon County with plaintiff’s discovery deposition and written arguments. On December 6, 1988, the court found for defendant. Plaintiff now appeals.

This action is brought pursuant to the Securities Law, also known as the Blue Sky Law. Section 8 requires every investment advisor and dealer be registered with the Secretary of State. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 121½, par. 137.8.) Plaintiff began dealing with defendant when plaintiff lived in New Jersey. At the time, defendant’s agent, Leonard Bogdan, with whom plaintiff dealt, worked out of the Louisville, Kentucky, office, and was registered in New Jersey. Plaintiff subsequently moved to Illinois and continued dealing with Bogdan, who, as it turns out, was not registered in Illinois. Accordingly, plaintiff is attempting to secure recovery under section 13 of the Securities Law (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 121½, par. 137.13(A)) for all the transactions in which he lost money. Section 13 allows a purchaser of securities, at his election, to void all transactions executed in violation of the law.

The evidence establishes that the majority of questioned transactions involved options transactions on the Standard and Poor’s 100 (S&P 100) Index. This is a weighted index of the top 100 stocks on the S&P Index and is traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. There were also several stock transactions.

Defendant raised two defenses involved in this appeal. The first was, with regard to the options transactions, that plaintiff was the seller of securities and was not, therefore, entitled to relief. The second was, with regard to the stock transactions, that the Securities Law requires the purchaser to tender the stock in question and, since plaintiff no longer had this stock, he could not complete this requirement. The court agreed with defendant on both counts.

Plaintiff first asserts defendant should be foreclosed from asserting these defenses because these are affirmative defenses which defendant did not plead.

Initially, we note plaintiff did not make this argument to the trial court with respect to the allegation of his failure to tender the stock. It is well settled that normally issues raised for the first time on appeal may not be considered by the appellate court or argued on appeal. (Moehle v. Chrysler Motors Corp. (1982), 93 Ill. 2d 299, 303, 443 N.E.2d 575, 577; J.R. Sinnott Carpentry, Inc. v. Phillips (1982), 110 Ill. App. 3d 632, 639, 443 N.E.2d 597, 603.) Thus, this allegation, with respect to defendant’s tender argument, is waived.

Section 2 — 613(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2 — 613(d)) provides that facts constituting an affirmative defense, which would likely take the opposite party by surprise, must be plainly set forth in the answer. The failure to do so waives the asserted defense. (Spagat v. Schak (1985), 130 Ill. App. 3d 130, 134, 473 N.E.2d 988, 992; Swansea Concrete Products, Inc. v. Distler (1984), 126 Ill. App. 3d 927, 929, 467 N.E.2d 388, 390; Dayan v. McDonald’s Corp. (1984), 125 Ill. App. 3d 972, 998, 466 N.E.2d 958, 977.) It cannot be considered even if the evidence suggests the existence of such a defense. Spagat, 130 Ill. App. 3d at 134, 473 N.E.2d at 992; Dayan, 125 Ill. App. 3d at 998, 466 N.E.2d at 977.

The test of whether a defense is an affirmative defense and must be pleaded is whether the defense gives color to the opposing party’s claim and then asserts new matter by which the apparent right is defeated. (Worner Agency, Inc. v. Doyle (1984), 121 Ill. App. 3d 219, 222, 459 N.E.2d 633, 635.) The admission of the apparent right is inferable from the affirmative defense. Worner, 121 Ill. App. 3d at 222, 459 N.E.2d at 635; Warren Barr Supply Co. v. Haber Corp. (1973), 12 Ill. App. 3d 147, 148-49, 298 N.E.2d 301, 303.

In Worner, the court addressed whether the failure of consideration and the want of consideration are affirmative defenses. The court explained:

“Under this test the defense of failure of consideration would be an affirmative defense, because the defense impliedly admits the sufficiency of the underlying contract but offers an excuse for the defendant’s failure to perform. In contrast, the defense of want of consideration would not constitute an affirmative defense. It does not give color to the plaintiff’s claim, but rather attacks the sufficiency of that claim.” Worner, 121 Ill. App. 3d at 222-23, 459 N.E.2d at 635-36.

Applying this analysis to the present case makes it clear the assertion that plaintiff is a seller of securities is not an affirmative defense. By its very nature, this assertion attacks one of the required elements of plaintiff’s recovery, which is that he is a purchaser of securities. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 121½, par. 137.13(A).) Since this defense gave no color to plaintiff’s claim, defendant is not required to specifically plead it.

Plaintiff next contends the court’s decisions on the merits were erroneous. Plaintiff sought recovery under the civil remedy provisions contained in section 13, which provide, in part, that every sale of a security made in violation of this law shall be voidable at the election of the purchaser. At trial, defendant argued, concerning plaintiff’s options investing, that plaintiff was a seller of securities and, accordingly, was not afforded protection by this law. The trial court agreed.

Plaintiff made numerous transactions as a writer of calls on the S&P 100 Index. A call is an option to purchase the underlying security at a set price, known as the strike price, at a set date in the future. A writer of a call receives a premium from the buyer upon entering into the agreement. The strike price on the call is always higher than the current price. Thus, the buyer is speculating the measuring securities will increase in price beyond the strike price. If it does, the buyer will purchase these securities at the strike price and sell them at the market price. Conversely, the writer is speculating that the market price will not exceed the strike price by the date the option is to expire. In that case, the buyer will not exercise his option, and the writer keeps the premium as his profit.

In the present case, the speculation is on the rise and fall of the S&P 100 Index.

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Bluebook (online)
544 N.E.2d 67, 188 Ill. App. 3d 57, 135 Ill. Dec. 710, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/space-v-ef-hutton-co-illappct-1989.