William W. Bailey Tom Curtis Wendell W. Wood, and David D. Marshall Michael A. Cates v. J.W.K. Properties, Inc., T/a Albemarle Farms, John W. Kluge

William Bailey, Tom Curtis, and Wendell Wood (“the plaintiffs”) purchased interests in a cattle breeding program set up in 1985 by the defendant John Kluge through J.W.K. Properties, Inc., trading as Albe-marle Farms. 1 After the program collapsed, the plaintiffs instituted this action asserting both federal claims, under federal securities laws, and pendent state law claims. The district court found that the interests purchased by the plaintiffs were not securities, so it granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the federal claims and…