Roskind v. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

Opinion

STEVENS, J.

Does federal law preempt a state law cause of action brought under California’s unfair competition law (UCL), Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq.,1 where a brokerage firm is alleged to have violated its duty to its customers, by not executing their orders for stock sales in a fair and timely manner, and by instead “trading ahead” for its own benefit before processing those sales for its customers? We conclude there is no provision of federal law that preempts a state law cause of action under the UCL in these circumstances, and therefore we must reverse the…