The claim against Fifth Third Bank represents the latest legal action brought by the BTG on behalf of customers who were victimized by a financial institution.  The BTG recently garnered an award of $852,000 against Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo Advisors) for aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty in a FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) litigation in which it represented former U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson.

Frederick L Bateman, Jr., lead trial counsel in the case, stated:

“Financial institutions have a duty to their customers. They blanket the airways with advertising soliciting business and espousing their trustworthiness. Fifth Third Bank represents that it is committed to increasing the financial literacy of people living in the communities it serves, and that it has developed financial empowerment programs that provide access to the information and tools that contribute to good financial decisions. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case in this matter”.

*See the complete document here:  Counterclaim – Fifth Third Bank

For more information, please contact Rick Bateman at:

FBateman@BusinessTrialGroup.com 
407.236.8180 (Orlando)
850.521.1382 (Tallahassee)

Alan Grayson sued Wachovia Securities in 2007, alleging that the firm had facilitated the scheme by engaging in brokerage and trading activity when it knew, or should have known, that Derivium was a “Ponzi” scheme.

In one of the longest-running Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) hearings in recent years, spanning 44 hearing days over 14 months, a FINRA panel found that Wachovia had aided and abetted Derivium’s breach of fiduciary duty to Grayson, and awarded the former Congressman damages.

Congressman Grayson stated, “We are pleased that some measure of justice has finally been achieved for our family, and that hope has been restored for all of the Derivium victims. This was a terrible event in the lives of the hundreds of unfortunate people who lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the Derivium scheme.”

Grayson was represented in the action by lead trial counsel Tucker H. Byrd of The Business Trial Group of Morgan & Morgan, who stated, “We alleged that Derivium was a massive Ponzi scheme perpetrated upon Congressman Grayson, and hundreds of other innocent people, and that Wachovia was complicit in the wrongdoing by facilitating the scheme.”

Mr. Byrd went on to say, “Too often when the ‘music stops’ in a Ponzi scheme, the schemers and the money are long gone. This outcome should be a warning to brokerage firms everywhere to be mindful of what is happening inside their houses. Firms cannot give sanctuary to Ponzi schemers and then turn a blind eye to bad acts taking place in their firm. If they are in a position to know that something is wrong and allow it to happen, they could be held liable to the customers victimized.”
     

For more information, please contact:

Sofia Lugo
407.236.5981 Direct
SLugo@BusinessTrialGroup.com

The case was filed last week in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York by the ADA-FHA Practice Group of The Business Trial Group of Morgan & Morgan.  The group is devoted to protecting the rights of clients who have suffered a loss as a result of discriminatory violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA).

See the complete document:   Complaint & Demand for Jury Trial

The ADA regulations “expressly prohibit AMTRAK from discriminating against persons with disabilities” and require that “all recipients of federal funding, including AMTRAK, ensure that their facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities”.

The class representative is a resident of Florida who relies on a wheelchair for mobility, as she is unable to stand or walk for more than 3-5 minutes at a time.  The Complaint describes in detail some of the struggles, difficulties and pain suffered by the Plaintiff during her travels on AMTRAK between Florida and New York.

David S. Oliver

“In spite of a 20-year grace period granted to AMTRAK by Congress when it enacted the ADA in 1990,  AMTRAK has yet to come into compliance with the ADA,” said attorney David S. Oliver, who heads the ADA-FHA team for the Business Trial Group.  This term expired July 26, 2010.  The Complaint states that AMTRAK had requested that Congress extend the deadline to September 30, 2015, but in 2009 that extension was denied.

In a report AMTRAK itself filed with Congress on October 27, 2010, “AMTRAK admitted that it failed to comply with the mandate of Congress that 100% of its rail stations be in compliance with the ADA as of July 26, 2010. Instead, it indicated that it hoped to have 100 of the 481 rail stations compliant by year-end 2011″, states the Complaint.

 Among other things, the lawsuit demands that AMTRAK comply with requirements of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act to remove existing architectural barriers to individuals with disabilities and that its facilities be readily accessible to and useable by individuals with disabilities.

AMTRAK has 482 passenger stations in the U.S. which are subject to these federal regulations.

                                                                                                                                                                
For additional information, please contact:

David S. Oliver, Esq.
DOliver@BusinessTrialGroup.com
407.849.2972

Rick co-chairs the Northern Everglades Alliance, a group which advocates for preserving working ranches and rural landscapes in the area of the Everglades Headwaters.

“President Obama’s ‘Great Outdoors Initiative’ fits like a hand in a glove with our work to create three new national wildlife refuges in the area of the Northern Everglades”, said Dantzler.

Rick’s attendance was requested by several of President Obama’s Cabinet members and agency heads, including Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior; Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture; Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  The conference will take place March 2, 2012, at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

America’s Great Outdoors Initiative was launched by President Obama nearly two years ago as part of an effort to develop strategies for growing America’s outdoor heritage and economy.

A third generation Floridian, Rick now heads the Winter Haven office of The Business Trial Group of Morgan & Morgan, and is best known as a long-serving member of the State Senate and House of Representatives. 

During his time in office, he specialized in environmental, land use and agricultural issues.  As a senator, he played a major role in ending the litigation that had paralyzed efforts to clean and restore the Florida Everglades, at the time the largest environmental public works project of its kind in history.

  
For more information, please contact Rick Dantzler at:
RDantzler@BusinessTrialGroup.com
863.291.0428

“Unfortunately, financial firms like FXCM use customer agreements which force customers to dig through thousands of words contained in these agreements in order to open an account; the firms bury specific provisions designed to keep customers from going to court where a jury of their peers can decide the fate of firms such as FXCM.  They also consciously attempt to bar customers from filing class actions,” said Tucker H. Byrd, the trial counsel who filed the proposed class action.

The presiding Judge in the federal case ordered that the case of the lead plaintiff had to be pursued through arbitration, which means that those customers whose claims might have been resolved through the class action now will most likely be resolved only through individual arbitration claims.  To do so, customers will have to engage counsel to file their claims, or file them on their own.

The Business Trial Group remains undeterred by this procedural posturing, and stands ready to file individual claims by those customers wishing to do so.  “Losing the arbitration-vs.-court issue is like losing the coin toss at the start of a football game.  The game has yet to be played.  Sure, we believe that a national class action would have been the quickest and most efficient way to resolve tens of thousands of claims, but if FXCM thinks that blocking a class action and forcing individual arbitrations will break the resolve of customers who seek justice, FXCM will be sadly mistaken.  Whether through one epic battle (a class action) or through individual skirmishes (individual arbitrations), the Business Trial Group and its clients plan to push ahead,” added Byrd.

FXCM customers who wish to pursue individual arbitration claims should contact legal counsel to review their legal rights.  “We are eager to talk to, and possibly help, those who feel victimized by FXCM,” said Byrd.  Because valuable rights may be lost by delaying the pursuit of claims, any customer interested in learning more about their legal rights should act now.

The Business Trial Group attorneys can be reached at:  855-249-8742.

• Principal Protected Notes

• Enhanced Income Notes

• Market Participation Notes

• Leveraged Participation Notes

• Reverse Convertible Notes

Each category of these Structured Securities Products includes enhanced risks that the SEC has determined most investors are unaware of, and for that matter, very few brokers are aware of.  In 2010, $45 billion dollars worth of Structured Securities Products were sold in the markets, and the SEC has decided that it was important to put out a Summary Report to alert investors as to the potential problems and pitfalls with these types of securities.

Read report:  SEC Summary Report on Structured Securities Products

Disputes involving Structured Securities Products can implicate the broker through whom or from whom you bought the Structured Securities Products; they can also involve the issuers of the Structured Securities Products, if adequate risk disclosures have not been made.

 
If you’ve had any problems with these types of securities and would like to talk to one of our lawyers, call us at 855-249-8742.

The SEC in 2009 provided the following example, showing that might not be true:

• Between December 1, 2008 and April 30, 2009, an ETF seeking to deliver 3x the daily return of an index fell 53%, while the underlying index actually gained around 8%. An ETF seeking to deliver 3x the inverse of the index’s daily return declined by 90% over the same period.

In this example, when the index rose 8%, the buyer of $100,000 of the 3x ETF reasonably expected a profit of $24,000, or 24%, from a product advertising a 3x return. Instead, the investor would have had a $53,000 loss— over half the investment— despite correctly expecting that the underlying index would rise. The investor made the right investment call, yet lost 53%!

Alternately, if the investor bought the 3x inverse ETF with $100,000, the investor would reasonably expect to have a $24,000 loss when the index rose 8%. Instead, the investor would have incurred a $90,000 loss. In this case the investor made the wrong investment call, but did not expect to lose 90% of the capital for a small 8% index rise!

The SEC and FINRA require licensed brokers to fully disclose the risks of any recommended investment. Furthermore, brokerage firms are required to train their brokers so that they accurately understand the risks of any given investment. Only investments that are appropriate for an investor are to be offered for sale. Investors are supposed to be protected from buying any security that is inappropriate, especially when the investment is misunderstood by the investor and the broker.

Leveraged ETFs are structured with a combination of stocks, options, futures and other derivative investments. The SEC and FINRA have devised safeguards for any investor wishing to trade options, futures or other derivative securities. Investors must meet a higher standard of sophistication, and the industry has a higher standard of disclosure and oversight. Yet leveraged ETFs, which are largely comprised of options, futures and/or derivatives, are freely traded without the safeguards that would be required by brokerage firms for individuals investing in the components of the same ETF.

Morgan & Morgan will investigate the following:

• Whether investors understand how leveraged ETFs actually work? Do investors believe they will actually receive a 2x or 3x return from a leveraged ETF?

• Are brokers being properly trained by FINRA-licensed broker-dealers so that the broker understands the reality of leveraged ETFs?

• Are licensed broker-dealers appropriately supervising their brokers?

• Are brokers recommending unsuitable investments to their clients?

• Are investors safeguarded from inappropriate investments in ETFs in the same way that broker-dealers safeguard investors from investing in options, futures, derivatives or any other product, when is misunderstood by the investor?

• Is there adequate disclosure by the ETF industry of the risks? Have ETF industry business practices changed since the 2009 SEC warning, or the 2010 suspension of new leveraged ETF products? Has the industry initiated safeguards, besides updating a prospectus that investors and their brokers don’t read?

• Does the ETF industry purposely label a product as 2x or 3x return while knowing that the security will not produce the labeled return for investors, except if the security is bought and sold intraday?

If you believe you may have been misled by your broker, or that you suffered losses or much lower profits than you believe you were entitled to, contact us at 855-249-8742 and talk to one of our lawyers.

The case arose out of the 2002-2003 purchase of a Skybox license at Florida State University, Bobby Bowden Field, Doak Campbell Stadium.  Leoni, Hobbs, and Gilbert had agreed to purchase the box as partners, with each contributing like amounts over a period of six years.  The complaint in the case alleges that Land Company Holdings, LLC was created, formed, and utilized as a sham device for the individual defendants, Gilbert and Hobbs, to engage in improper, illegal and/or ulterior purposes, and to allow the defendants to convert Leoni’s funds to their personal use and benefit.

The jury found that Matthew H. Gilbert, as Managing Member of Land Company Holdings, LLC and LCH, LLC, violated his duty of loyalty and duty of care to Leoni Properties.  It also found that he failed to keep Leoni Properties apprised as to the business affairs of LCH, LLC.  The verdict also found that Hobbs, Gilbert, and Land Company Holdings, LLC converted Leoni’s property and that their actions constituted civil theft.

In his closing argument, the attorney for Leoni Properties, Rick Bateman of Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group, argued that theft in a business context was no different than any other type of theft.  “Stealing is stealing,” no matter the circumstances, he pointed out.

Mr. Bateman commented after the trial that, “The truth will prevail. It always does,” concluding that the best way to find out the truth is to allow our legal system to do its job, and for a jury of peers to interpret the facts as put before them.

               
For additional information, please contact:
                
Frederick (Rick) Bateman
FBateman@BusinessTrialGroup.com  
850-222-1020 

The probable cause determination was based on five traffic stops in 2009. The five traffic stops were the subject of criminal proceedings which were dropped by the state attorney. Carter has long argued that the arrest was politically motivated.  

Carter was represented by Frederick Bateman of The Business Trial Group of Morgan & Morgan.  Bateman argued during the hearing that Frank Carter’s actions were proper and appropriate, pursuant to accepted police standards and, this attempt to decertify Mr. Carter was part of an ongoing effort by the Melbourne Police Chief to ruin the reputation and livelihood of Frank Carter.

After Bateman’s presentation at this morning’s hearing, Chairman John Rivera stated, “If it looks like a skunk, walks like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, it must be a skunk… this stinks. I move as chairman a finding of no probable cause”.  There was a second and a unanimous vote, whereupon the people in the room stood up in applause.

Bateman stated, “This is the first of many steps towards justice and compensation for Frank Carter.  The truth will prevail. It always does.”

Carter had filed a lawsuit against the City of Melbourne on May 18, 2011 alleging that the City, through the former police chief and current city manager, violated Mr. Carter’s federal constitutional and civil rights, including his rights to free speech,  afforded under the U.S. Constitution.  The suit also includes claims for slander, libel per se, false arrest and imprisonment, and malicious prosecution.
      

Complaint available here:   http://businesstrialgroup.com/2011/05/18/morgan-business-trial-group-files-civil-rights-lawsuit-against-city-of-melbourne-on-behalf-of-former-police-officer/

Document available:   Bedard Probable Cause Report

           
Bateman also said he will begin depositions of individuals involved in Carter’s lawsuit against the city next month.

                        
For additional information, please contact:

Frederick (Rick) Bateman
FBateman@BusinessTrialGroup.com   
850-222-1020  

Martindale-Hubbell, which traces its roots to 1868, contains online profiles for over one million lawyers and firms worldwide and serves as a fundamental legal resource.*

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Chad joined The Business Trial Group’s roster of veteran trial lawyers last March, and has since handled many high-profile and diverse cases.

He has concentrated his practice in general commercial litigation as well as construction law, a specialty in which he is board-certified, and has previously been recognized as a top professional in his field by both Florida Trend Magazine and the Jacksonville Business Journal.
                                 
                                 

              
See Chad’s complete bio:  http://businesstrialgroup.com/attorneys/charles-chad-r-walker-jr/
                                                    

*Source:  Martindale.com