San Diego Unsuitability Lawyers

San Diego, CA Unsuitability Lawyers

Representing Southern California Investors Who Have Been The Victims of Unsuitable Investment Recommendations By Their Financial Advisors

If you are a Southern California investor who has sustained serious losses because you suspect that your broker or investment adviser made a too-risky or otherwise inappropriate recommendation to you, contact the San Diego law office of Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) today. For investors in Northern and Central California, you may want to reach out to our San Francisco securities law office.

Unfortunately, unsuitability is often a cause of portfolio losses that could have been avoided or minimized. Too risky investments made by a broker, trades executed that are not in line with a customer’s financial goals, or investing strategies enacted that are too volatile for an investor—whether due to financial advisor ignorance, poor training, recklessness, or a blatant disregard of a client’s best interests—do happen. Sometimes, unsuitability enables investment fraud.

You want to work with trusted San Diego, CA unsuitability lawyers that know how to determine whether you should sue your broker or investment adviser for your losses.

What Is A Brokerage Firm and Its Associated Persons’ Duty To Its Customers As It Pertains to Suitability?

Under FINRA Rule 2111, member firms of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and their associated persons must have reasonable grounds for believing a transaction or investment strategy they recommend involving securities is suitable for a customer. Suitability should have been assessed through reasonable due diligence. This includes a proper examination of the customer’s investment profile: their age, financial situation and needs, other investments, investing goals, tax status, level of investing experience, investment time horizon, risk tolerance level, liquidity needs, and any other pertinent information.

If the customer is an institutional investor, then the member brokerage firm and/or its associated person must have reasonable grounds for believing this customer has the capability to assess the investment risks involving a particular strategy or transaction. Evaluating this can be complicated because institutions are run by people that each have over their own level of investing knowledge and experience. However, for FINRA’s purposes and assessment, a broker-dealer and its financial advisor can only get around its duty of preventing unsuitability if the institutional investor has stated that it acted of its own volition. The latter is a rare occurrence considering that a main reason to have hired a broker-dealer is to receive solid investment recommendations and other related advice.

The bottom line is this: if an investment recommendation is inappropriate for a particular customer, it is unsuitable. If serious portfolio losses result, this could be grounds for filing an investment loss recovery claim.

What Should You Do If You Are A California Investor Who Suspects Unsuitability Was The Cause of Your Losses? 

Schedule your free, initial case consultation with one of our dedicated San Diego unsuitability lawyers. We can determine whether financial advisor negligence or misconduct played a part in your portfolio losses and what you should do about it.

Over the decades, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas has represented California retail investors, retirees, elderly investors, families, accredited investors, high-net-worth investors, institutional investors, and ultra-high-net-worth investors against brokerage firms and investment advisers. We have the skills, resources, and knowledge to see a financial recovery claim to its conclusion while maximizing our client’s chances for a full recovery.

Usually, if you have an unsuitability claim against your financial advisor, you will likely have to submit your case to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration. Through this legal forum, a panel of arbitrators will rule on your case and issue a final ruling. This is just one of the reasons why you want to work with experienced unsuitability lawyers who are also seasoned FINRA attorneys. Arbitration is not the same as going to court, and you want to be represented by a securities team that knows how to navigate this particular legal forum.

Our San Diego securities law firm has represented investors in over 1000 matters in arbitration, mediation, negotiation, litigation. This depth of experience is key, especially as many unsuitability claims end up resolved by settlement before the FINRA arbitration panel gets to hear the case.

More than 90% of our clients have received full or partial recovery. That is thousands of investors collectively recouping many millions of dollars through our skilled efforts and dedication.

Contact Our Southern California Unsuitability Law Firm:

In San Diego County, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and the rest of Southern California, call (619) 550-4847 or (800) 259-9010 or fill out this form.

1545 Hotel Cir S #150-1
San Diego, CA 92108