Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Former customers of RCM, a subsidiary of the now-bankrupt Refco, appealed from a dismissal of their securities fraud claims against former corporate officers of Refco and Refco's former auditor. RCM operated as a securities and foreign exchange broker that traded in over-the-counter derivatives and other financial products on behalf of its clients. Appellants, investment companies and members of the putative class, claimed that appellees, former officers and directors of Refco, breached the agreements with the RCM customers when they rehypothecated or otherwise used securities and other property held in customer brokerage accounts. The district court dismissed the claims for lack of standing and failure to allege deceptive conduct. The court held that appellants have no remedy under the securities laws because, even assuming they have standing, they failed to make sufficient allegations that their agreements with RCM misled them or that RCM did not intend to comply with those agreements at the time of contracting.

Defendant was convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud. On appeal, defendant contended, inter alia, that the trial court committed prejudicial error when it failed to disclose the contents of a jury note and engaged in an ex parte colloquy with a juror accused of attempting to barter his vote. The court held that trial court deprived defendant of his right to be present at every stage of the trial. Because the deprivation was not harmless, the court vacated and remanded for a new trial.

The Board petitioned to enforce its August 2010 decision and order, concluding that County Waste violated section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(2), by allowing Local 124 to distribute a bonus to employees when an election was pending. County Waste cross-petitioned for review of the August 2010 decision, contending that the decision could not be enforced since two of the Board members who entered it also sat on the panel that issued an earlier decision in this case, which was vacated by the court pursuant to New Process Steel. The court held that because the court found nothing in New Process Steel that precluded Board members who entered a subsequently vacated decision from participating on the panel that reviewed the case on remand, the court granted the Board and Local 108's petition to enforce the August 2010 decision and denied County Waste's cross-petition for review.