Witter v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

WOOD, Chief Judge.

This is a tale of miseommunication. Our task is to decide where the resulting loss must fall. It involves some futures transac*747tions that Dirk Witter, whose broker was TransAct Futures, was trying to stop. Witter contends that he telephoned Robert Skelton, an employee of TransAct, with instructions to cancel several standing orders. What is clear is that Skelton did not do so, and Witter lost $23,000 on the resulting market position. What is unclear is why Skelton did not act: Witter says that Skelton disregarded his instructions, but Skelton says that Witter never told him…