Pinter v. Dahl

Maurice Dahl (plaintiff/counter-defendant) invested $20,000 in Pinter (defendant/counter-plaintiff), an oil and gas company, and then encouraged friends and family to invest as well, many of whom received unregistered shares; when Pinter's drilling failed, Dahl and the other investors sued Pinter for offering unregistered securities, and Pinter counterclaimed that Dahl had fraudulently induced it to issue unregistered securities to those other investors by effectively selling them shares. The district court and court of appeals both ruled Dahl was not a 'seller' of Pinter's securities under Section 12(1), and Pinter sought certiorari.