Securities Litigation

Balch & Bingham’s Securities Litigation Practice Group has handled a wide variety of regulatory, administrative, and federal and state actions. The Group’s attorneys offer decades of experience in actual courtroom litigation of securities matters as well as the corporate investigations that often go hand-in-hand. In addition, the Securities Litigation Group handles the class actions that have come to be regularly a part of these disputes. Among the many types of actions handled by this Group are:

FINRA Arbitrations: The Firm has extensive experience arbitrating before the FINRA (formerly NASD). The subject matter of such arbitrations include alleged sales practice violations, fraud, Form U5 filings, Form U4 expungement, registration claims, as well as disputes between broker-dealers. The following are samples of recent cases the firm tried to a conclusion or procured the dismissal of the clients prior to the hearing:

Form U5 Defamation – Together with our client, the Firm successfully defended an allegation by a registered representative who claimed he was defamed when the firm accurately reported the reason for termination. The NASD-DR arbitration panel unanimously found in favor of our client and taxed the outstanding costs and fees to the registered representative. In the Matter of the Arbitration between Brian Michael Megibow v. AmSouth Investment Services, Inc. and Carol Vincent Cook, 2006 WL 1879979 (NASD).
Alleged Sales Practice Violations – The Firm successfully defended a claim that a registered representative engaged in unauthorized trading of unsuitable products in a customer’s account. Similarly, the customer alleged the broker-dealer failed to properly supervise its registered representative. The customer alleged he lost approximately $1 million as a result of the alleged conduct. The NASD-DR arbitration panel dismissed the customer’s claims in their entirety. In the Matter of the Arbitration between Joseph J. Shunnarah v. UBS PaineWebber, Inc., Larry Salem, and Jeff Gaskin, 2005 WL 2897988 (NASD).
Alleged Sales Practice Violations – The Firm successfully defended a claim that a registered representative engaged in unauthorized trading of unsuitable products in a customer’s brokerage account. The customer also alleged the broker-dealer failed to properly supervise its registered representative. The NASD-DR arbitration panel dismissed the customer’s claims in their entirety. In the Matter of the Arbitration between E. Walton Brown v. UBS PaineWebber, Inc., Glenn E. Brandon, Jr., and J.C. Bradford & Co ., 2004 WL 3087412 (NASD).
Alleged Sales Practice Violations: The Firm procured the dismissal of a broker-dealer and a registered representative prior to the hearing based on the passage of time between the date on which the alleged conduct occurred and the date on which the claimant filed a claim in arbitration. In the Matter of the Arbitration between Estate of Kevin G. O'Connor and Estate of Mary S. O’Connor v. John Christopher Wachtel, Compass Brokerage, Inc., and David Sullivan Neel, Jr., 08-01933 (FINRA).

Broker-Dealer Disputes: The Securities Litigation Practice Group has regularly handled TRO and Preliminary Injunctions related to disputes between broker-dealers. These disputes often center on noncompetition or nonsolicitation agreements (or trade secret claims) and the enforcement or defense of such agreements or protections. The Firm has handled these matters before federal courts in Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, among others. It has also handled these matters in a number of state courts, including Georgia and Alabama. Typically, if not settled, these disputes become FINRA arbitrations after the TRO or Preliminary Injunction and Balch & Bingham continues to handle these proceedings.

State Securities Claims: The Securities Litigation Practice Group has handled a number of state law securities claims, including:

Successfully defended recent state court trial pending in Jefferson County, Alabama, in which the plaintiff alleges that an individual defendant made false statements of material fact in connection with the sale of a security.
Defended financial institution against securities fraud claims asserted under the Alabama Securities Act. Successfully defended summary judgment on appeal, creating significant new precedent on Blue Sky law claims in Alabama

Federal Securities Claims/Corporate Investigations/Derivative Suits: The Securities Litigation Practice Group is called upon to handle corporate investigations of internal accounting and fraud issues. They work closely with the Corporate Investigations Practice Group of Balch & Bingham when such calls come. Recent examples of such work include:

Acted as counsel to Board of Director’s Committee to investigate claims in shareholder derivative action for Fortune 500 Company.
Acted counsel to conduct forensic accounting for report to restate earnings for Fortune 500 Company when Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice began investigations.
Defended major accounting firm in securities class action over bankruptcy of publicly traded athletic store.
Investigating and responding to inquiries relating to suspicious activity reports.

Accounting Malpractice/Securities Claims: The Securities Litigation Practice Group overlaps with the Business Litigation Practice Group for purposes of defending and prosecuting accounting malpractice claims. Such claims are often closely tied with Rule 10(b)(5) claims for false financial statements. The Group has defended or prosecuted such claims repeatedly. By way of example, the Firm recently prosecuted a securities claim against Price Waterhouse Coopers and received the largest civil verdict in the history of Cobb County, Georgia.

Regulatory Investigations and Proceedings: We offer experience in defending firms and individuals in regulatory proceedings and investigations. We have experience with the SEC, FINRA (formerly NASD), and other state and federal regulators. For example, the Firm has defended clients in administrative actions filed by regulators, and has responded to Wells’ Notices, regulatory requests, Letters of Caution, deficiency letters and negotiated proposed Letters of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent. Further, we have responded to regulatory and investigative requests related to Suspicious Activity Reports. We have attorneys who are Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists and Certified Fraud Examiners.