State Securities Administrators to Host Public Forum on Arbitration
The North American Securities Administrators Association will be holding a public forum on securities industry arbitration, on June 24 in New York City.
NASAA, which is the organization of heads of securities departments from each of the American states and territories, as well as the Canadian provinces and Mexico, has long perceived industry securities arbitration as unfair to investors. The organization has advocated for substantial changes in the arbitration system, including abolition of mandatory arbitration.
NASAA's position on securities arbitration is abundantly clear in the title of the upcoming forum: Arbitration is Broken: How Can it be Fixed? According to NASAA, the forum "will feature a panel of legal and regulatory experts, academics, and consumer advocates who will address the manner in which arbitrations are conducted; whether the selection, qualification, and composition of arbitration panels is fair; and whether the arbitration process should be an option, not a requirement, for investors. Panelists also will discuss the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 and current research exploring consumer views on securities arbitration."
Registration for the forum is free, on a first-come-first served basis. Registration details are on NASAA's website.
Arbitration should be optional for either party. Let's put 12 in the box and "get ready to rumble." Without mandatory arbitration, firms will have the right to reciprocal discovery, the rules of evidence will apply, stare decisis will prevail (presumably), and a professional jurist will decide pre-trial matters.....and, a jury of your peers will decide the matter. That's the American way.
Arbitration is not fair and the arbitrator can"arbitrarily rule just because he doesn't like someone." In my case, the arbitrator lied about who he was ( a principal of a firm that had SEC violations for which he was responsible." None of this was revealed in the arbitrator disclosure. He heard a breach of contract case brought by another principal of a small firm. Just a little predjudicial maybe? Furthermore, he allowed the plaintiff to decide if crucial rebuttal documents could be entered. O f course they said no! No predjudice hee- he ignored state laws and Finra reg no wonder!!!!!