Wilfred Feinberg

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit circuit Deceased · served 1966–2014 Appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) 29 signed orders read

Judge Feinberg no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Feinberg decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Read securities-fraud standing under Rule 10b-5 broadly, rejecting a revived 'privity' requirement: the purchaser-seller rule limits who may sue, not who may be sued, so those who fraudulently induce a purchase are not exempt merely because they were not the sellers.

“the rule does not require that defendant be the seller of the stock or that plaintiff have purchased the stock from defendant.”

Procedural preferences

Structured constitutional tort analysis around a single threshold question, resolving whether any officer violated the plaintiff's rights before reaching municipal (Monell) liability or supplemental state-law claims.

“The first two claims depend on a single threshold question: did the officers’ actions violate Matican’s constitutional rights?”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Newman v. Shaffer
· 1974-04-05
Petition for review (petitioner (pilot)) Denied

“The petition for review is denied.”

United States v. Smilow
· 1973-01-30
Appeal (defendant-appellant (contempt)) Granted

“Case remanded for further appropriate proceedings.”

Jane Doe v. Hodgson
· 1974-07-22
Appeal (plaintiff-applicant) Denied

“Application denied.”

United States v. Rizzuto
· 1974-10-09
Appeal (defendant-appellant) Denied

“The judgment of conviction is affirmed.”

Farmanfarmaian v. Gulf Oil Corp.
· 1978-12-18
Appeal (plaintiff-appellant) Denied

“We affirm.”

The Torrington Company v. NLRB
· 1976-12-14
Petition for review (petitioner (employer)) Denied

“Petition for review denied and cross-application for enforcement granted.”

Maxime C. Baretge v. Norman N. Barnett
· 1977-04-14
Appeal (plaintiff-appellant) Granted

“Reversed and remanded.”

Independent Investor Protective League v. SEC
· 1974-04-08
Petition for review (petitioner) Moot / procedural

“Accordingly, we dismiss the petitions for review.”

United States v. Vargas
· 1990-12-03
Appeal (defendants-appellants) Denied

“we affirm the judgments of conviction.”

Flight Engineers' International Association v. Pan American World Airways
· 1990-02-13
Appeal (plaintiff-appellant (union)) Denied

“The judgment of the district court is affirmed.”

McCowan v. Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
· 1989-11-15
Appeal (plaintiff-appellant) Moot / procedural

“the appeal is dismissed.”

United States v. Rodriguez
· 1989-12-26
Appeal (defendant-appellant) Denied

“Judgment affirmed.”

A historical record

Judge Feinberg no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.