The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that between 2007 and 2008, the number of securities arbitration claims increased by 85%. While Investors filed 1,985 claims against brokerage firms in 2007, last year, 3,667 cases were filed. Between November 30 and December 31, 2008, 462 securities arbitration claims were filed with…
This month, the Texas Court of Appeals concluded that two ex-Stanford Group Co financial advisers must arbitrate state labor law claims that their former employer constructively discharged them for complaining about its unethical business practices. The appeals court’s decision reverses a lower court’s ruling to not compel arbitration. According to…
The Texas Supreme Court says that former NEXT Financial Group Inc. stockbroker Michael Clements’s claim that the brokerage firm fired him for refusing to cover up churning activity must be arbitrated. Clements was hired as a NEXT Financial regional supervisor in September 2006. Nearly a year later, the brokerage firm…
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. and a number of its workers have won an arbitration dispute filed by a couple that invested in a money market mutual fund. In U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge George Daniels confirmed the award. Konstantinos Karetsos and…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says it has set up an arbitration process designed to resolve claims involving auction-rate securities. Parties now have the option to have their claims reviewed by an arbitration panel with members that are not connected with any firm that may have recently sold the securities.…
Citigroup Global, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia Securities, UBS, Charles Schwab, and Morgan Stanley have volunteered to participate in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority pilot program that would allow investors to have their cases heard by a panel consisting of three public arbitrators. Currently, investors have the option of having their cases…
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has concluded that Mouayad Shammami, an investor that is accusing brokerage firm Broad Street Securities Inc. of fraudulently inducing him to change his investment goals, must arbitrate this dispute rather than pursue the matter through the courts. In 2004, Shammami…
Some folks resolve their disputes by going on TV, where they also get paid and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame (or infamy). But what does a TV judge do to resolve disputes and, perhaps, gain notoriety? Take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court! TV trials are really arbitrations.…
On December 12, The North American Securities Administrators Association told the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee says that it is calling for a voluntary securities arbitration system. NASAA also approves of the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act (S. 1782). NASAA says that right now, nearly every broker-dealer has to include a pre-dispute…
A $2.4 million NASD Arbitration Award to a former UBS financial adviser, who was fired in 2003 by the company that preceded UBS PaineWebber Inc. is being upheld by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The court said that it did not agree with UBS’s…