November 15, 2002
The Recorder
The securities industry thumbed its nose Wednesday at California’s Judicial Council, announcing it would simply circumvent the state’s new ethics standards for arbitrators now that it has lost a battle over them in federal court. The New York Stock Exchange said it would allow parties with disputes in California to move ahead with arbitrations if […]
November 1, 2002
Registered Representative
Carol X. Vinzant
The last couple of years have been hell on anyone who owns stock. And someone must pay. Rightly or wrongly, that person typically is you. Case in point: the rate of NASD arbitration cases is expected to increase nearly 35 percent in 2002 compared with 2000. That’s a lot of brokers on the hot seat. […]
October 10, 2002
USA Today
Thor Valdmanis
NEW YORK – Douglas and Deborah Millar are about to become $7.7 million richer. The Pennsylvania couple didn’t buy a state lottery ticket. Instead, they played another popular game of chance: Sue Your Broker. In granting one of the largest awards on record six weeks ago, a private arbitration panel ruled that Merrill Lynch failed […]
October 7, 2002
Los Angeles Business Journal
NASD arbitration hearings are currently frozen in California, due to the NASD’s opposition to new state regulations governing arbitrators’ conflicts of interest and disclosure. The NASD has taken the position that the state rules are unworkable, and the matter is pending before courts and regulatory bodies. However, the Beverly Hills last firm last month argued […]
September 17, 2002
Wall Street Journal
Hartley Bernstein has a neighbor who revels in calling him “a felon.” His mother wonders: “Did I do something wrong raising you?” His probation officer asks: “What are you doing with your life?” Mr. Bernstein used to be a prominent New York attorney, a self-described “rainmaker.” But he represented stock-manipulation schemers who were cheating investors […]