Christoffel v. E. F. Hutton & Co.

588 F.2d 665 Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 96,545 Dean C. CHRISTOFFEL, as guardian of the Estate of Lillian E. Styer, an incompetent, Appellant, v. E. F. HUTTON & COMPANY, INC., a corporation, Appellee. No. 76-1223. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Aug. 21, 1978. Rehearing Denied Dec. 26, 1978. Gerald S. Maltz (argued), of Miller, Pitt & Feldman, Tucson, Ariz., for appellant. J. Noland Franz (argued), of Carson, Messinger, Elliott, Laughlin & Ragan Phoenix, Ariz., for appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Before HUFSTEDLER and GOODWIN, Circuit Judges, and FIRTH, * District Judge. HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judge: 1 Christoffel, the current guardian of the estate of Styer, an incompetent, brought this action against E. F. Hutton & Company, Inc. ("Hutton") seeking to hold Hutton vicariously liable for losses sustained by the incompetent's estate due to Hutton's former employee, Schwager, who both dissipated and misappropriated assets of the estate during his tenure as guardian. Federal jurisdiction was based on Christoffel's claim that Hutton was a "controlling person," within the meaning of section 20(a) of the Securities…