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Plaintiff Loses 9 of 10 Claims, But Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Claim Survives

October 3, 2012 | Jason M. Knott
For a baseball player, batting .100 won’t get you into the Hall of Fame. But for Rosanne Ott, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot turned portfolio manager, batting .100 kept her case alive. See Ott v. Fred Alger Mgmt., Inc., No. 11 Civ. 4418 (LAP) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 27, 2012).

Ott sued her former employer Fred Alger Management (“Alger”), associated companies, and Alger’s CEO/CIO for alleged violations of the Investment Advisors Act, breach of contract, and the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions. She also filed a derivative claim against the CEO/CIO on behalf of Alger’s shareholders for breach of fiduciary duty. In her 10-count, 65-page amended complaint, Ott alleged that Alger had adopted a trading policy for her fund (the Health Sciences Fund) that allowed other Alger funds to make better trades at her fund’s expense.

Alger and the other defendants moved to dismiss. For four counts, Ott didn’t respond, and for five others, the district court decided that she had not adequately alleged supporting facts. That left only her whistleblower claim, based on the anti-retaliation provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78u-6(h)(1)(A)(i). (Say that cite three times fast.)
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