A brokerage account error can deplete assets and accounts in a very short time that took years to earn and save.  Similarly, false statements by a financial professional can be economically devastating but difficult to pursue.  The investment community has attracted unscrupulous operators, well before there was a Bernie Madoff or even a Charles Ponzi.

Government regulators impose high standards on these brokers and bankers in whom the public invests their trust and their assets. At the same time, the financial industry has proven time and again that it has the ability to influence the law in its own favor.  Our trial attorneys have handled arbitrations and trials for hundreds of investors, including large class actions, and have obtained successful jury verdicts and arbitration awards for bogus investments and brokerage account losses.

Representative Cases

• We represented an investor against GMAC, Inc. asserting GMAC’s failure to supervise its mortgage broker who sold unregistered investments to customers in Vancouver, Washington.  A federal court jury returned a verdict awarding all losses in favor of the investor.  GMAC has appealed the decision.


• We represented an investor whose brokerage account was “churned” by her financial consultant.  The claim was pursued in arbitration against the broker’s supervisors at Pacific West Securities.  A settlement was reached shortly before the beginning of trial, reportedly in excess of Pacific West’s liability insurance limits.


• We represented a group of investors against a broker who sold bogus stock and debentures in a Spokane real estate investment company.  A settlement was entered after the broker’s insured tendered the limits of its coverage.


• We represented investors who purchased securities from Portland-area brokers Patricia and Bill Sears.  The investors sought repayment of losses on stock and other securities of Metropolitan Mortgage Company and its affiliates.  Following an NASD filing, a grand jury handed down criminal indictments against the Sears, and they filed bankruptcy.  The Sears’ liability insurance carriers paid policy limits toward investor losses.


• We represented a corporation that maintained a reserve account at Key Bank.  After the account had reached several million dollars, the banker arranged to have the money moved to an investment account with MacDonald Investments, whose representative invested the account in junk bonds, resulting in losses more than $1 million. MacDonald Investments paid most of the loss, while a second settlement covered the remaining loss.


• We represented a retired Boeing engineer and his wife in a securities fraud lawsuit based on non-suitable investments. Financial Network Investment Corporation maintained offices at the investors’ credit union and advised Boeing employees on retirement “rollovers”.  The recommendations caused large losses in the couple’s retirement account. The parties were unable to agree on settlement and commenced trial in an arbitration hearing. On the first day of the hearing, FNIC agreed to pay what the couple had proposed in settlement.


• We represented a group of investors in a securities fraud lawsuit brought against a financial consultant who sold unregistered securities in a company that subsequently collapsed. The financial consultant and his broker-dealer employer jointly settled with investors on the eve of arbitration for a confidential amount.