Pre-sale work and investment profits
Brenda Christine Barry v. Securities and Exchange Commission
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Brenda Christine Barry and other petitioners ask whether a promoter’s pre-sale work can satisfy the rule that a buyer must expect profits solely from the promoter’s or another party’s efforts for an asset to count as an investment contract, a type of security.
- What's at stake
- Barry and the other petitioners still have no Supreme Court answer on whether pre-sale promoter work can satisfy this part of the securities test.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Their petition says appeals courts disagree about whether that work counts.
Barry and the other petitioners say appeals courts disagree over whether a promoter’s completed pre-sale work can count toward the investment-contract test.
Question presented
Whether work undertaken by a promoter before an asset’s sale can satisfy the requirement of SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293, 299 (1946), that the purchaser be “led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party.”?
What happens next
The Court must decide whether to hear the case. No argument date or decision timing is set.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
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Court Order added: Lower Court Orders/Opinions
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.