Ian Mausner v. Marketbyte, LLC

MEMORANDUM

Ian Mausner appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants Marketbyte, Isen, and Bahr on Mausner’s common law fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims based on direct fraudulent inducement. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

Mausner argues that the district court erred when it held that Mausner’s First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) did not include causes of action for common law fraud and negligent misrepresentation based on direct fraudulent inducement. While the district court correctly concluded that the FAC states a claim based on a pump-and-dump theory, the FAC also pleads a direct fraudulent inducement theory. A combination of aspects of the FAC leads us to this conclusion. For example, one of the subsections of the FAC, under the section titled “FACTS COMMON TO ALL CAUSES,” is titled “DEFENDANTS MADE FALSE REPRESENTATIONS DIRECTLY TO PLAINTIFF AND INTENDED TO INDUCE PLAINTIFF’S RELIANCE ON THESE STATEMENTS.” Moreover, the FAC includes several allegations that false or misleading statements were made directly to Mausner and that Mausner relied on these false or misleading statements in his…