Myron v. ChicoineMyron v. Chicoine
Rosenthal & Cо. and Dr. Chicoine cross-petition for review of a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) reparation order issued pursuant to § 14(e) of the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, as amended,
I
The facts of the underlying controversy between the parties pertinent to the issues raised in this appeal may be stated succinctly. Rosenthal is a registered commodity futures merchant undеr § 4d of the Commodity Exchange Act,
On May 23, 1977, Chicoine filed a complaint against Rosenthal before the CFTC seeking reparations pursuant to § 14 of the Commodity Exchange Act,
Exercising its right to appeal the ALJ’s initial decision to the Commission under
Both Rosenthal and Chicoine respectively filed timely
II
Rosenthal challenges the constitutionality of
In O’Day the Ninth Circuit held unconstitutional as applied a provision of the Perishable Agricultural Commodity Act of 1930,
automatic doubling of [the reparation award] has no rational relationship to the payment of interest on the award and costs on appeal. If the claim is small, the product will be wholly inadequate; if the claim is large, as in this case, it will be grossly excessive.
O’Day v. George Arakelian Farms, Inc., supra,
In Saharoff v. Stone,
It is a fundamental principle of constitutional adjudication that a court “will not pass upon the validity of a statute upon complaint of one who fails to show that he is injured by its operation.” Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority,
Rosenthal contends that only willful violations of § 4c(b) of the Commodity Exchange Act,
Ordinarily an appellate court will refuse to consider questions not presented in administrative proceedings below. Hormel v. Helvering,
These purposes will be served by application of the principle in the instant case. We have previously acknowledged that reparation proceedings under
Rosenthal clearly waived the willfulness issue in the CFTC proceedings which spanned several years: it did not raise the question before the ALJ, see
Rosenthal now seeks to avoid the consequences of what has proven to be an unsuccessful approach to this lawsuit before the CFTC by injecting the willfulness issue into the case for the first time on appeal. It attempts to justify this tactic and circumvent the waiver rule by contending that the Commission’s opinion and order contains a gratuitous discussion of the question and asserting that it has a right to respond to that discussion because of the Commission’s opinion’s precedential effect. The contention is wholly lacking in merit. First, Ro-senthal’s premise is fallacious — the opinion does not explicitly address the willfulness question. Furthermore, the extent to which the opinion bears on the issue at all is quite understandable given the procedural history of the case. The ALJ made detailed factual findings, but reached only a general conclusion that the facts demonstrated a violation of § 4c(b) of the Commodity Exchange Act,
Moreover, given the Commission’s holding that Rosenthal’s guarantees were affirmative misrepresentations constituting fraud, we fail to see how Rosenthal is in any way prejudiced in this case by the opinion’s remote reference to the CFTC’s position on scienter. As to Rosenthal’s assertion concerning the precedential effect of the decision, the short answer is that Rosenthal may litigate the willfulness question in future cases providing it has appropriatеly raised the issue. It has not done so in this case, and this court “cannot decide a question which will not affect the rights of the litigants before it.” Central Soya Co. v. Consolidated Rail Corp.,
Rosenthal’s final contention is that the Commission’s order evidences bias against it. The contention lacks even the remotest support in the record. Rosenthal points to a portion of the order which states that Rosenthal’s agent’s failure to disclose risk to Chicoine “was, as we have noted, merely оne aspect of a larger fraud entailing gross misrepresentations,” Chicoine v. Rosenthal & Co., supra, Comm.Fut.L.Rep. (CCH) 121, 075 at 24, 345, as evidence of this bias. In what can only be characterized as a paranoid interpretation of this language, Rosenthal asserts that the “larger fraud” is a reference to Rosenthal’s conduct in other transactions which are the subject of pending CFTC enforcement actions against Rosenthal. The assertion is preposterous. Manifestly, the quotation is merely a reference to, and restatement of the Commission’s earlier findings and conclusions concerning the predictions of guaranteed profits affirmatively made by Rosenthal’s agent to Chicoine. See id. at 24,343. Thus, Rosenthal has utterly failed to substantiate its charge that the Commission went outside the record of this case in reaching its ruling, and has in no way cast doubt on the presumption that administrative officials dispassionately рerform their responsibilities, see, e.g. United States v. Morgan,
Rosenthal also perceives bias in the Commission’s analysis of a risk disclosure letter purportedly signed by Chicoine after the purchase of the option, maintaining that the Commission was not “objective” in its review of the ALJ’s decision because it “completely ignored” the effect of the letter. The charge is baseless. The Commission did analyze the effect of the letter, see Chicoine v. Rosenthal & Co., supra, Comm. Fut.L.Rep. (CCH) 121,075 at 24,345 n. 7, and Rosenthal does nоt contest the merits of that analysis in this court. Instead, it charges bias solely because the Commission did not find its arguments meritorious. The proposition does not survive its statement.
IY
The final issue in this case is cross-petitioner Chicoine’s argument that the CFTC improperly excised the ALJ’s award of prejudgment interest.
At the outset we observe that an award of prejudgment interest is particularly appropriate in cases involving investment fraud. In order to realize the objective of compensatory relief, prejudgment interest is imposed in certain classes of cases in order to make a party whole. United States v. California State Board of
if a defendant has deprived the plaintiff of a specific sum of money, he has also deprived the plaintiff of the interest which the money would have earned in the absence of defendant’s breach of duty; unless the plaintiff is paid interest for thе entire time that he is deprived of the use of his money, he will not receive full compensation.
Sanders v. John Nuveen & Co.,
Given the compensatory basis of awarding prejudgment interest and the remedial purposes of CFTC reparation proceedings, we have no doubt that the Commission may award such relief in appropriate cases. Nevertheless, the decision to award prejudgment interest rests in the sound discretion of the adjudicatory tribunal and involves a balancing of the equities between the parties under the circumstаnces of the particular case. United States v. California State Board of Equalization, supra,
In the instant case, the ALJ ostensibly determined, albeit sub silentio, that a prejudgment interest award was warranted. However, the Commission, acting sua sponte and relying upon its decision in Sherwood v. Madda Trading Co., [1977-80 Transfer Binder] Comm.Fut.L.Rep. (CCH) 1120,728 at 23,026 (1979), eliminated the award because the ALJ had failed to articulate his reasons for awarding prejudgment interest. The Commission made no independent review of the facts to determine whether prejudgment interest was justified under the circumstances of the case, nor did it remand the case to the ALJ to make explicit his rationale. Instead, it arbitrarily excised the award and thus committed essentially the same error which formed its basis for rejecting the ALJ’s unexplained holding — a failure to exercise discretion.
While the Commission’s handling of the prejudgment interest issue constituted an abuse of discretion, it would be inappropriate for this reviewing court to engage in a balancing of the equities of these parties in the absence of such an analysis by the Commission or the ALJ. The initial determination of this issue is committed to agency discretion. Since the Commission has failed to exercise its discretion, the proper course for us to follow is to remand the case to the agency for an exercise of its discretion on this issue. Compare Florida Power & Light Co. v. Costle,
Y
Accordingly, the order appealed from is hereby affirmed, as modified herein,
Notes
. The ALJ’s initial decision is reported in Chi-coine v. Rosenthal & Co., [1977-80 Transfer Binder] Comm.Fut.L.Rep. (CCH) 20,618 at 22,535 (1978).
. The CFTC’s opinion and order is reported in Chicoine v. Rosenthal & Co., [1977-80 Transfer Binder] Comm.Fut.L.Rep. (CCH) ][ 21,075 at 24,341 (1980).
. In an order entered September 18, 1980, after this court had assumed jurisdiction over this case, the CFTC purported to alter the interest award again. Stating that its July 2, 1980 order had inadvertently awarded interest from the date of its order, as opposed to the date of ALJ’s initial decision, it attempted to amend its previous order to correct the error. The Commission’s September 18, 1980 order was a nullity; the CFTC was divested of jurisdiction over this case by virtue of the parties’ perfected petitions for review in this court. However, pursuant to our power to modify the Commission’s order, compare
. See generally Baker v. CFTC,
. Chicoine’s petition was originally filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was transferred to this court pursuant to
. Rosenthal also asserts, without any analysis, that the double bond requirement is a per se violation of equal protection becausе it is only applicable to commodity professionals, based
. Although Rosenthal does not cite any apposite authority to avoid appliсation of the waiver doctrine, we note that other exceptions to the general rule are not implicated in this case. For example, in certain classes of cases at least, a reviewing court will not require exhaustion where the agency does not raise the issue. See Mathews v. Diaz,
. It should be noted that in portiоns of its reply brief, Rosenthal apparently attempts to transmute its bias argument into an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence. If Rosenthal had wished to litigate in this court the question of whether the CFTC’s factual findings were supported by the weight of the evidence, it should have briefed the question initially. Issues first raised on appeal in a reply brief generally will not be considered. See Rule 9(e), Circuit Rules of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sеventh Circuit. (“A reply brief shall be limited to matter in reply.”)
. Rosenthal did not contest the award of prejudgment interest before the Commission nor is it litigating the issue before this court.
. See note 3 supra.
. Since Chicoine has prevailed in No. 80-1951, Rosenthal is liable to Chicoine for costs and reasonable attorney’s fees in that appeal; such costs and fees, together with the reparation' award as modified herein, to be satisfied from the bond posted by Rosenthal. See