On July 30, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned a Florida district court’s sweeping decision that threatened to drastically expand the scope of liability under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The appeals court’s decision was a complete victory for WLF, which filed a brief in Badger v. Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co., arguing that the district court’s holding, if allowed to stand, would upset the careful balance Congress struck between compensating victims of fraud and protecting capital markets from the damaging effects of frivolous litigation any time there is a downturn in the market. The appeals court agreed with WLF that the district court’s ruling improperly transformed a longstanding and universally accepted commercial practice into securities fraud.