Court Opinion

ID: 9871774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 20:41:36.775823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:21.915994
License: Public Domain

TROTT, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
During oral argument, it became clear that Hornberger’s claim for an accounting is both moot and frivolous. First, Hornber-ger had no account with Merrill Lynch. The account was opened by William Meadows, now deceased, and Wellington International Trust. Second, Merrill Lynch showed a binder of documents to Hornber-ger’s first round of lawyers and to Horn-berger himself. The documents included Meadows’s signed receipt for the notes which Meadows had asked Merrill Lynch to return. In a document submitted under penalty of perjury, Hornberger admits reviewing this signed receipt. The date of the receipt was 2002. Hornberger’s uncorroborated self-serving claim that Meadows’s signature and initials on the receipt were forgeries lacks any indicia of credibility. Third, his current attorney’s representation during oral argument as an officer of the court that he had “yet to be shown” any documents from Merrill Lynch about the status of the accounts was directly contradicted by his further admission that Merrill Lynch had shown him a signed copy of the 2002 faxed receipt “once we initiated litigation.” Counsel for Hornber-ger concedes that he wants “an accounting as to what happened to the notes.” This objective has already been achieved. Counsel’s request amounts to asking us to send the district court on a wild goose chase.