Can a plaintiff continue to pursue two competing causes of action in the same case?

be construed as an admission against another alternative or inconsistent pleading in the same case," at least at the "initial pleading stage." Molsbergen v. United States , 757 F.2d 1016, 1019 & n.4 (9th Cir. 1985). Furthermore, forcing a plaintiff to bring different suits containing their federal and state law claims would be inefficient for district courts in these often-complex cases. The precept that a plaintiff can pursue multiple, even if inconsistent, theories of recovery in the same suit is especially true when the plaintiff does not maintain that inconsistency on appeal. Here, Plaintiffs have not appealed the dismissal of their Rule 10b-5 claim.

The district court implicitly recognized that Plaintiffs pursued two inconsistent causes of action: