Opinion ID: 2802784
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Schoenholz

Text: Schoenholz’s situation is almost identical to Aldinger’s. He concedes that he “made” the false statements in the SEC filing and in his own presentation at the Investor Relations Conference. He was not found liable for Gilmer’s statement to the media. That leaves only the press releases and Aldinger’s presentation to Goldman Sachs. For the reasons already 13 How exactly this would affect Aldinger legally is somewhat complicated. Liability is generally assigned proportionately using the jury’s determination of responsibility, see 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(f)(2)(B), but a defendant can be jointly and severally liable if he knowingly violated the law, see id. § 78u-4(f)(2)(A). The jury found him liable for one knowing violation (the one we’ve just described), though it’s not clear whether that makes him jointly and severally liable for all misstatements or only the one he knowingly made. See Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Credit Suisse First Bos. (USA), Inc., 482 F.3d 372, 404–07 (5th Cir. 2007). Nor is it clear how proportional liability and § 20(a) interact. See Laperriere v. Vesta Ins. Grp., Inc., 526 F.3d 715 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam). We don’t need to resolve these issues because even if Aldinger is jointly and severally liable for all 17 misstatements— either through § 78u-4(f)(2)(A) or § 20(a) or some combination thereof—he is still entitled to seek contribution from the other defendants. See Musick, Peeler & Garrett v. Emp’rs Ins. of Wausau, 508 U.S. 286 (1993). So the size of his share of responsibility matters. No. 13-3532 37 discussed, Schoenholz is entitled to a new trial on whether he “made” those particular false statements, as that term was defined in Janus.