Ahrens v. American-Canadian Beaver Co.
| Decision Date | 15 July 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 428-69.,428-69. |
| Citation | 428 F.2d 926 |
| Parties | Richard D. AHRENS and Jeanne Ahrens, his wife, et al., Appellants, v. AMERICAN-CANADIAN BEAVER CO., Inc., a corporation, Mark L. Weaver, Sally D. Weaver, Van R. Weaver, Ted L. Weaver, Jerry Milligan, Elizabeth Milligan, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Alfred J. Schweppe, Seattle, Wash., (Rawlings, Roberts & Black, and Richard C. Dibblee, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Schweppe, Doolittle, Krug & Tausend, and Kenneth E. Rekow, Seattle, Wash., with him on the brief), for appellants.
Everett E. Dahl, Midvale, Utah, for appellees.
Before MURRAH, Senior Circuit Judge, and SETH and HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judges.
This is an action commenced under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) and the Securities Act of 1933 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a), by the purchasers of "beaver contracts."
The complaint alleges that false and untrue representations were made to the plaintiffs by the defendants, or some of them, and by their agents, in solicitations made for the sale of investments in unregistered contracts relating to the purchase, care, and resale of live beavers. The case was tried to a jury, which found for the defendants, and the plaintiffs have taken this appeal.
The plaintiffs assert that the trial court committed errors by making unfair comments while instructing the jury, by submitting to the jury the question of whether or not the contracts were securities, by failing to instruct on the responsibility of the defendants for representations made by their agents, and by giving erroneous instructions upon promissory statements or representations.
The record shows that the plaintiffs were solicited by representatives or salesmen of the defendants or some of their organizations to purchase contracts wherein they would become the owners of a pair or several pairs of live beavers which would be kept, cared for, raised and bred on so-called beaver ranches operated or selected by the defendants or their representatives. The offspring would also be so cared for. The purchasers would own the beavers but the sellers could make exchanges from time to time.
The representations to the plaintiffs included statements that there was a very large demand for beavers for breeding stock and otherwise, and the plaintiffs would have no trouble in disposing of the beavers which were raised. Other representations related to the source of the beavers to be sold initially to the plaintiffs, how fast the beavers would reproduce, and the nature of the care that would be given to them on the beaver ranches. The plaintiffs proved that in reliance on these representations they purchased some $75,000 worth of "beaver contracts." The plaintiffs assert that the beavers were not as represented, that the rate of reproduction of defendants' beavers in the past was very much lower than represented, and that there was no market for beavers that were raised. Further, they alleged that when the beavers were tendered back to the Weavers or their organization, they would not repurchase them nor would they refund any of the purchase price.
The defendants do not deny the fact that the United States mails were used in the sale of the contracts.
As indicated above, the plaintiffs assert that the trial court was in error and that great prejudice resulted to them when it was instructing the jury and describing the nature of the cause of action or claims of false statements which the plaintiffs had asserted had been made to them. The trial judge, in so describing the claims of the plaintiffs, stated: The plaintiffs assert that this description to the jury of the nature of the claims was at...
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Goodman v. Epstein
...may think of as a security. See, e. g., McGreghar Land Co. v. Meguiar,521 F.2d 822, 824 (9th Cir. 1975); Ahrens v. American-Canadian Beaver Co.,428 F.2d 926, 929 (10th Cir. 1970); Hirsch v. duPont, 396 F.Supp. 1214, 1217 (S.D.N.Y.1975), Aff'd, 553 F.2d 750, 758 (2d Cir. 1977). These courts ......
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Willamette Sav. & Loan v. Blake & Neal Finance Co.
...a trial court to allow the jury to determine whether or not an investment contract existed in a civil case. Ahrens v. American-Canadian Beaver Co., 428 F.2d 926 (10th Cir.1970). The Carman court held that the standard of review for a jury verdict in a criminal context, however, was sufficie......
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Woods v. Homes & Structures of Pittsburg, Kansas
...Circuit has held the question of what constitutes a security to be one of law, not fact, in a civil action. Ahrens v. American-Canadian Beaver Co., 428 F.2d 926 (10th Cir. 1970). As a general proposition we agree that a guarantee can be a security. The statutory definition of "security" at ......
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U.S. v. Johnson
...has found reversible error in giving the jury the final determination of "security" in a civil case. Ahrens v. American-Canadian Beaver Co., 428 F.2d 926, 928 (10th Cir.1970). The same problem of separating legal from factual issues occurs in criminal statutes other than in the securities c......