Securities Fraud Lawyers Blog
A whopping $30-trillion. That’s how much the stock market in the United States is now worth.
Who wouldn’t want to tap into that kind of money? After all, you can start investing in this market for as little as $1,000.
And the potential returns? Massive.
Of course, it still depends on the company you invested it in. For instance, if you placed a $1,000 initial investment on Netflix 10 years ago, you’d now have a total return (including the capital) of $51,966. That’s an increase of 50 times!
As big as the potential returns are, investment loss risks are just as big. As your broker may have told you, the stock market can have huge ROIs, but it’s also one of the higher-risk platforms.
But what if your losses happened because of your broker?
You’d want to work with a stock market attorney in this case. And here’s why.
1. It’s Your Every Right
Just to make things clear, not all investment catastrophes result from bad brokers. There’s the simple reason that the market crashed. Or you may have lost opportunities to invest in a gainful platform.
But just as there are many reasons for losses outside of your broker’s control, there are also reasons that they occurred due to your broker or advisor. If your loss occurred not because of the market itself but because the person you trusted to look after your investments didn’t, then you have every right to take matters to court.
Keep in mind that there are laws designed to protect investors from potential losses that may occur following broker misconduct. There’s the Security Act of 1993 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
There are many ways a broker can mishandle investment accounts, all of which can cause you losses. Whether they’re big or small losses, know that a stock market attorney can help you throughout the lawsuit. Because for the right reasons, you can sue your broker.
2. A Stock Market Attorney Can Help You Determine Broker Misconduct
As mentioned above, there are many ways brokers behave improperly and against the law. Here are a few ways they can do so:
- Violations of the Alternative Trading System
- Inaccuracies with Blue Sheets
- Excessive markups
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations
- Misappropriating your funds
These are just some of the plenty other ways broker misconduct can take place. The problem is, it can be hard to prove that a financial professional did commit these behaviors. Only someone who has extensive knowledge and experience dealing with such acts can determine that they did happen.
3. Theory vs. Reality: It’s Difficult to Pursue Legal Action on Your Own
Indeed, you have the right to sue your broker for misconduct. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
In theory, you can sue your broker (or any other financial institution) after an investment loss they caused. Whether it’s bad advice, mishandling investments, or misleading you with illegal and unethical practices, you can take the matters to court.
So long as you can prove that they really did do these things. So long as you can prove strong “merits of the case.”
On your own though, you may not have enough knowledge or experience showing that your case has adequate merits. You may still win. However, you may not get the fair compensation you deserve.
The bottom line is, regardless of how good you think your case is, if you do it alone, you can expect a rocky road to securing sufficient compensation.
That’s why you should consider working with a stock market lawyer. One who has extensive experience dealing with investment losses. One who has successfully brought cases to court – and won them.
To do this, the lawyer will gather all relevant documents and paperwork. He/she will then review everything that transpired between you and your broker. From here, the lawyer can then determine just how the broker acted in misconduct, and what exactly the broker did.
Evidence gathering is one of the most important responsibilities of an investment lawyer. There’s just too much paperwork you may think are great as evidence, but the court can still dismiss. The role of your lawyer is to sift through all these documents and figure out which ones will best shed light on your broker’s bad and illegal behavior.
4. Investment Loss Lawsuits are Nasty
Anything that has to do with breaking the law results in nasty cases. For both the victim and the recipient of the lawsuit.
When you sue your broker, you can expect him/her to deny everything. Arguments such as putting the blame on you, the market, or both you and the market will arise. In other words, “injured innocence” is the first reaction you can expect from your broker.
Again, there are laws surrounding fair treatment of complaints made against brokers. However, these aren’t always practiced. Brokers facing lawsuits will always have the same objective of avoiding – even evading – their liabilities.
And they will use every means possible to do so.
As such, you can’t expect them to just agree with your accusations. You will become their enemy, and they will treat you like one.
Without the help of an experienced stock market attorney, you can’t really expect anything positive from the party you sue. The fact itself that all lawsuits are nasty should be enough for you to consider working with one.
5. A Stock Market Attorney Can Help with Recovering Your Loss
There are very few things you can do on your own when it comes to suing your broker. You can file a complaint and sue them on your own. But with everything we’ve already mentioned about the reality of lawsuits, doing everything by yourself is another risk you wouldn’t want to take.
As such, it’s best that you hire a stock market lawyer to help you from the very beginning. Not only will this help you raise your chances of winning; you can also increase your odds of getting the fair compensation you deserve.
Don’t Let Your Broker Get Away
The longer you delay taking matters to court after an investment loss, the more time your broker can come up with his/her defense. Again, anyone in such a compromised position will do everything possible to avoid and evade legal repercussions.
So, before it’s too late, arrange a free case evaluation with us. Our highly experienced and qualified lawyers will review your case and help you determine the best possible actions to take.