ELAINE E. BUCKLO, District Judge.
Presently before me is a motion by Knight Financial Products, LLC ("Knight") for summary judgment. In that motion, Knight argues for dismissal of the Rule 10b-5 claim against it, and also argues that I should decline to exercise jurisdiction over any remaining state law claims. Both Knight and plaintiffs have inundated this court with filings related to Knight's motion for summary judgment. In addition to filing a response to Knight's motion, plaintiffs have also filed a Rule 56(f) affidavit, in which plaintiffs' counsel avers both that plaintiffs' response is adequate to defeat Knight's motion and that plaintiffs require additional discovery to adequately respond to Knight's motion. I have reviewed these submissions, and conclude that summary judgment is warranted here. Thus, Knight's motion for summary judgment is granted. In addition, I reject plaintiffs' request that they should be entitled to take more discovery before responding to Knight's motion.
I borrow from Magistrate Judge Keys's apt summation of the key dispute in this case:
11/23/09 Report and Recommendation, Docket # 725 at 3-5.
Summary judgment is appropriate if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Once the moving party shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the burden of proof shifts to the nonmoving party to designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), prohibits the use "in connection with the purchase or sale of any security . . . [of] any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe." Pursuant to this section, the SEC promulgated Rule 10b-5, which provides in pertinent part:
17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5.
Knight argues for summary judgment because plaintiffs have failed to put forward any evidence that Knight expressly communicated a falsehood to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs respond by asserting
To prove a claim under Rule 10b-5(a) or (c), a plaintiff must show that the defendant (1) committed a deceptive or manipulative act, (2) with scienter, (3) that the act affected the market for securities or was otherwise in connection with their purchase or sale, and (4) that defendants' actions caused the plaintiffs' injuries. Last Atlantis Capital LLC v. Chicago Bd. Options Exch., Inc., 455 F.Supp.2d 788, 793 (N.D.Ill.2006).
The parties' primary argument centers on whether, when dealing with an options specialist, Rule 10b-5 allows for an implied misrepresentation, or whether an express representation is required. Plaintiffs assert that under the "shingle theory," specialists, such as Knight, may be liable for securities fraud based on implied misrepresentations. Under the "shingle theory," a broker-dealer that "does business with the public . . . impliedly represents that he will deal fairly with the public." Brennan v. Midwestern United Life Ins. Co., 286 F.Supp. 702 (N.D.Ind.1968). "[A] broker-dealer, by accepting an order. . . impliedly represents that the order will be executed in a manner consistent with the duty of best execution." Newton v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 135 F.3d 266, 269 (3d Cir.1998). Relying on the shingle theory, plaintiffs' primary argument is that Knight, by hanging out its professional shingle as a specialist, impliedly represented to plaintiffs that it would follow all applicable rules and that it deceived plaintiffs when it engaged in certain actions which violated those rules.
In support of its assertion that an express representation is required for a specialist to be liable under Rule 10b-5, Knight points me to the Second Circuit opinion in United States v. Finnerty, 533 F.3d 143 (2d Cir.2008) ("Finnerty III"). Rather frustratingly, Knight glosses over the subtleties of the history of Finnerty III, and makes no attempt to parse out the differences between sections (a), (b) and (c) of Rule 10b-5. A detailed examination of the history of Finnerty III is critical to understand what the Second Circuit actually held.
Thus, the district court in Finnerty I dismissed the Rule 10b-5(b) charge, but allowed the counts under sections (a) and (c) to proceed to trial. After trial, the district court concluded that the government failed to put on sufficient evidence of a "deceptive act" as required by sections (a) and (c). United States v. Finnerty, 474 F.Supp.2d 530, 538 (S.D.N.Y.2007) ("Finnerty II"). The court reasoned that in order for the specialist's conduct to be deceptive, there must be evidence of what the customers expected when they were allegedly deceived. Id. at 539. Because the government failed to put forward evidence of the customers' expectations (i.e., proof of what the customers "think they are getting"), the government failed to show how the customers were deceived. Id. The district court stated that "[e]ven assuming Finnerty violated NYSE rules against interpositioning,
On appeal, the government appealed only the granting of the judgment of acquittal, which dealt exclusively with Rule 10b-5(a) and (c), and did not appeal the ruling relating to Rule 10b-5(b) (in which the district court rejected the application of the shingle theory to a specialist). Finnerty III, 533 F.3d at 148. Thus, the Second Circuit's opinion in Finnerty III could not have addressed the district court's conclusion that, under Rule 10b-5(b), a specialist is not liable for implied misrepresentations under the shingle theory. Instead, the Second Circuit addressed only the district court's ruling on Rule 10b-5(a) and (c), and the district court's requirement of a "deceptive act." Id. at 146.
In arguing for reversal, the government maintained that Finnerty had held himself out as a specialist obligated to follow exchange rules, that customers would have expected him to follow the rules, and they were therefore deceived when he failed to follow them. Id. at 149-50. While it never
Id. at 150. The Second Circuit, therefore, took the district court's reasoning a step further and held that a specialist may be liable under sections (a) and (c) if the customers expected that the specialist would not engage in a practice prohibited by exchange rules and if that understanding was "based on a statement or conduct by" the specialist.
With no Seventh Circuit case law directly on point
Thus, pursuant to the holding in Finnerty III, in order to prove a claim under either of these sections, plaintiffs must provide evidence of: (1) customer expectations, and (2) a deceptive statement or act on the part of the specialist. Finnerty III, 533 F.3d at 150. Plaintiffs assert that they have provided evidence of those two requirements.
While plaintiffs have provided evidence relating to the Finnerty III requirements, ultimately they have failed to tie together the two requirements. Through affidavits, plaintiffs have provided evidence that they expected Knight would act in accordance with all applicable rules when handling and executing the orders they submitted to the Exchanges. Plaintiffs also provided evidence that they relied on Knight to execute their orders in a fair and proper manner. In addition, plaintiffs provided evidence that Knight made public statements regarding its promise of "best execution" through press releases and through its own website. Pls' Am. St. of Add'l Facts 19 (citing Friedman Decl. at Exs. 8-16). Examples of these statements include: "Our appointments of [new executives] will help ensure that our operations and execution capabilities keep pace with our efforts to establish Knight Financial Products as the standard for best execution in the options industry," Ex. 10 at 1 (emphasis added); "Knight helps its clients meet their fiduciary obligation of obtaining best execution for the securities orders that they route on behalf of their customers," Ex. 8 at 2 (emphasis added).
However, despite providing these important pieces of evidence, plaintiffs fail to provide any proof that the plaintiffs' expectations were based on the alleged misrepresentations made by Knight. The key language in Finnerty III states that a customer's expectation "must be based on a statement or conduct" by Knight. Finnerty III, 533 F.3d at 150. Because plaintiffs failed to put forward evidence that their expectations were based on Knight's alleged misrepresentations, they have failed to put forward sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment.
Finally, plaintiffs also argue, in an apparent attempt to suggest that Knight (although admittedly a specialist) was more like a typical broker-dealer than the specialist in Finnerty III, that "Knight actively solicited customers by, inter alia, directing monetary payments to certain brokerage firms in exchange for their agreements to direct customer orders to
In light of the above, plaintiffs have failed to put forward evidence that their expectations that Knight would follow all applicable rules were based on statements or conduct by Knight. As a result, Knight's motion for summary judgment on Rule 10b-5(a) and (c) is granted.
To prove a claim under Rule 10b-5 (b), the plaintiffs must show that (1) the defendant made a misstatement or omission, (2) of material fact, (3) with scienter, (4) in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, (5) upon which plaintiff justifiably relied, and (6) that the false statement or omission proximately caused the plaintiff's damages. Last Atlantis, 455 F.Supp.2d at 793.
In Finnerty I, the district court concluded that, under Rule 10b-5(b), the shingle theory was not applicable to specialists where the plaintiff failed to put forward evidence of misleading statements. 2006 WL 2802042, at *6. Relying on the language of subsection (b), the court noted that "the rule's plain language thus makes clear that liability for an omission pursuant to subsection (b) requires a statement to have been made." Id. The court went on to distinguish its case from excessive markup cases, in which the securities dealer solicits customers by actively holding himself out as someone who is representing the best interests of the customer. Finally, the court concluded that allowing implied misrepresentations in this case would "render the text of subsection (b) meaningless." Id. at *7. In particular, the "part that says an omission is prohibited if it `make[s] the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading' would be superfluous." Id. (quoting Rule 10b-5 (b)).
I am persuaded by the Finnerty I court's reasoning with respect to specialists. For the reasons given above, plaintiffs failed to provide evidence that their expectations that Knight would follow all applicable rules was based on Knight's allegedly false statements. As a result, Knight's motion for summary judgment on the Rule 10b-5(b) claim is granted.
Plaintiffs maintain that their Rule 10b-5 claim should nonetheless survive summary judgment because a fiduciary-type relationship
Plaintiffs have cited no controlling or persuasive authority
Other district courts have concluded that no fiduciary duty exists between a specialist and an investor, mainly due to the impersonal nature of the relationship between the two. In United States v. Hunt, No. 05 Cr. 395(DAB), 2006 WL 2613754, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 6, 2006), the court held that "[w]hile specialists may have an obligation to maintain the market economy, they do not owe the public a fiduciary duty, and therefore an alleged breach of fiduciary duty cannot serve as a basis for security fraud." Because specialists serve two masters, both the buyer and seller, they "have no loyalty to buyers or sellers, as they execute orders for both."
In Spicer v. Chicago Bd. Options Exch., Inc., No. 88 C 2139, 1990 WL 172712, at *15 (N.D.Ill. Oct. 30, 1990), a case from this district dealing with market makers,
In light of the above, and based on the evidence submitted, I cannot conclude that a reasonable jury could find that plaintiffs and Knight had a fiduciary relationship.
The main evidence lacking here concerns whether or not plaintiffs relied on the alleged misrepresentations contained in the Knight press releases and on the Knight website in forming their expectations that Knight would provide "best execution," and otherwise follow all rules applicable to specialists. Because this information resides with plaintiffs themselves, I see no need to allow plaintiffs additional time for discovery. Plaintiffs' request for additional discovery, pursuant to its submission of a Rule 56(f) affidavit, is therefore denied.
For all the foregoing reasons, Knight's motion for summary judgment [584] is granted. Knight's motion for leave to file a response to plaintiffs' notice of controlling legal authority [747] is granted. Likewise, plaintiffs' motion for leave to file a reply to Knight's response to plaintiffs' notice of controlling legal authority [749] is granted. Plaintiffs' motion to continue or deny the motion for summary judgment filed by Knight pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f) until after completion of discovery [651] is denied. In light of the fact that all federal claims against Knight are dismissed, I decline to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. Therefore, any state law claims against Knight are dismissed, as well.
On March 26, 2010, I granted a motion for summary judgment filed on behalf of defendant Knight Financial Products, LLC ("Knight"). On May 8, 2010, certain plaintiffs moved the court to reconsider this order
Plaintiffs first argue that the court erred in granting summary judgment to Knight on all federal claims. According to plaintiffs, "Knight never argued that it was entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs' claims that it committed a manipulative act in violation of Rule 10b-5(a) and (c) and never contested plaintiffs' evidence that it sent them misleading confirmations in violation of Rule 10b-5(b)." Pls' Mem. at 13.
The court concludes that plaintiffs' argument is waived. In its motion for summary judgment, Knight clearly moved for summary judgment on all federal counts. See Knight Mot. at 1 ("Knight . . . hereby moves the Court, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, for entry of summary judgment in its favor on plaintiffs' federal securities law claims against Knight[.]"; "Knight is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Claim I of the complaint, which is a claim under federal securities laws."). Further, Knight argued that all state law claims should be dismissed because if its motion was successful, there would be no remaining federal claims left in the case. In responding to Knight's motion, plaintiffs never argued that Knight moved only for partial summary judgment on subsections (a), (b), and (c) of Rule 10b-5. They never notified either the court or Knight that there were other bases supporting the claims under Rule 10b-5(a), (b) and (c), and they never indicated that the state law claims would remain viable even if Knight's motion was successful. The complaint in this case is 236 pages long, and it is not the job of the court to make plaintiffs' arguments for them. The appropriate time and place to argue that Knight's motion, if successful, only addressed part of plaintiffs' claims based on (a) and (c), and part of the claims based on (b), was in plaintiffs' response to Knight's summary judgment motion. I conclude that it is too late for plaintiffs to raise this argument.
Next, plaintiffs argue that I erred in following the Second Circuit's holding in United States v. Finnerty, 533 F.3d 143 (2d Cir.2008) ("Finnerty III"), instead of the "controlling legal authority" set forth in United States v. Ashman, 979 F.2d 469 (7th Cir.1992). Plaintiffs failed to raise Ashman in their response to Knight's summary judgment motion (or in their multiple post-reply filings). A motion to reconsider should not serve as the occasion to tender new legal authority for the first time. Publishers Res., Inc. v. Walker-Davis Publ'n, Inc., 762 F.2d 557, 561 (7th Cir.1985). I reject the notion that Ashman
Plaintiffs also re-argue that Section 10b-5(b) is not limited to cases involving fiduciaries or cases involving express misrepresentations. Further, they argue that plaintiffs and Knight had a fiduciary-type relationship. Plaintiffs simply rehash their previous arguments already presented at summary judgment and have not convinced me that my earlier analysis needs to be changed.
In addition, plaintiffs argue the court erred in not finding that a "fraud-on-the-market" theory of reliance is applicable in this case. Plaintiffs argue that, even without evidence that they actually relied on Knight's misrepresentations, their reliance can be presumed under a fraud-on-the-market theory. Having reviewed the parties' summary judgment briefing, I conclude that plaintiff's argument has been waived. See Bloch, 587 F.3d at 784. Had plaintiffs wished me to consider their argument that reliance must be presumed under a fraud-on-the-market theory, they should have raised this argument when they discussed Finnerty III's requirements for express misrepresentations (which included a requirement of reliance) in their response brief. Motions to reconsider are not a mechanism to allow parties to make arguments they could have raised in the original briefing.
Finally, plaintiffs rehash their argument that quotes themselves amount to an express misrepresentation. The court considered this argument on summary judgment, and plaintiffs may not re-argue it here.
For all the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs' motion to reconsider [800] is denied.