Dupont v. United States

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs are a firm of cotton brokers who trade on the New York Cotton Exchange. On behalf of certain customers they had purchased 24,000 bales of cotton for future delivery. On March 23, 1934, they were instructed by these customers to transfer their accounts to another firm of brokers. The plaintiffs carried out these instructions by delivering a “sold” memorandum to the other broker, who, in turn delivered a “bought” memorandum to the plaintiffs. No commission was charged the plaintiffs’ customers because their instructions to remove the accounts had been given at…