Whitesides
Whitesides v. ETrade Securities, LLC
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 BENJAMIN WHITESIDES, et al., Case No. 20-cv-05803-JSC
Plaintiffs,
ORDER RE: MOTION TO DISMISS
v. AND TO STRIKE
E*TRADE SECURITIES, LLC, et al., Defendants.
Three users of E*TRADE’s electronic trading service bring suit alleging that E*TRADE failed to process their orders as the crude oil futures market collapsed on April 20, 2020. E*TRADE’s motion to dismiss and to strike is now pending before the Court. (Dkt. No. 17.) Having carefully considered the parties’ briefs and having had the benefit of oral argument on February 25, 2021, the Court GRANTS the motion to dismiss with leave to amend. The economic loss rule bars Plaintiffs’ claims and Plaintiffs have not sufficiently pleaded the existence of a “special relationship”. The motion to strike is DENIED as moot. I. BACKGROUND A. Complaint Allegations E*TRADE is one of the largest online focused broker-dealers in the world. (First Amended…