Opinion ID: 574939
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Secondary Liability Theories

Text: 56 The jury also returned verdicts in favor of plaintiffs for conspiracy to violate the securities laws and knowing participation in a breach of fiduciary duty. Knowing participation in a breach of fiduciary duty is analogous to a cause of action ... for aiding and abetting a securities fraud, where the primary violation involves a breach of fiduciary duty. Whitney v. Citibank, N.A., 782 F.2d 1106, 1115 (2d Cir.1986). Likewise, liability for civil conspiracy is in substance the same thing as aiding and abetting liability. Civil conspiracy requires an agreement to participate in an unlawful activity and an overt act that causes injury, so it do[es] not set forth an independent cause of action but rather is sustainable only after an underlying tort claim has been established. McCarthy v. Kleindienst, 741 F.2d 1406, 1413 n. 7 (D.C.Cir.1984); accord Mizokami Bros. v. Mobay Chem. Corp., 660 F.2d 712, 718 n. 8 (8th Cir.1981); Rotermund v. United States Steel Corp., 474 F.2d 1139, 1145 (8th Cir.1973). 57 Thus, all three theories of secondary liability here rise or fall together. Because Continental is not liable for aiding and abetting securities fraud, it did not assist in breaching any fiduciary duty Eagle or Penn Square owed to plaintiffs. Likewise, Continental may not be held liable on the civil conspiracy claim because plaintiffs did not prove a substantive violation, much less an agreement to participate in one of the substantive offenses. Therefore, we find that Continental is not secondarily liable to plaintiffs under any of these theories.