Willis v. Farrell

14 F.3d 1338 62 USLW 2516 , Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 98,024 Willis V. HAUSER, Rafael Acosta, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. John FARRELL, Alvin Harvey, Rauscher, Pierce, Refsnes, Inc., a California Corporation, Janice Industries, Inc., d/b/a Janmar Lighting, a California Corporation, Truman Aubrey, Defendants-Appellees. No. 91-16400. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Dec. 16, 1992. Decided Jan. 14, 1994. Richard McKnight, Las Vegas, NV, for plaintiffs-appellants. Rodney M. Jean, Evan J. Wallach, Lionel Sawyer & Collins, Las Vegas, NV, for defendant-appellee Rauscher, Pierce, Refsnes, Inc. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Before: NORRIS, BEEZER and KLEINFELD, Circuit Judges. KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellants Hauser and Acosta invested in a business venture with two stockbrokers at Rauscher, Pierce, a securities brokerage firm. The venture failed. The appellants sued the stockbrokers and the firm, and obtained a judgment against the stockbrokers based on fraud. The appellants proposed several theories of vicarious liability to hold the brokerage firm liable, but the district court granted summary judgment in…