Dean Witter Reynolds lost a court appeal.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has upheld $233,500 in damages against the brokerage firm for a Pennsylvania couple who alleged that a broker had “churned” their commodity account, losing thousands of dollars. The appeals court upheld the compensatory and punitive damages awarded by the Northampton County Common Pleas Court to Joseph and Cheryl Genteel of Roseto, but it rejected the lower court’s decision to award the couple $39,050 in interest. The Genteels had accused broker Jack Leslie of Omaha of churning their account, or making excessive transactions primarily to collect brokerage fees.