When you signed up for your account, whether you realized it or not, you agreed to resolve any disputes you might have with the Broker-Dealer that holds your account (eg Merrill Lynch or Wells Fargo Advisors) in FINRA Arbitration rather than with a Judge or jury. While this has its disadvantages (you are no longer getting a jury of your peers to decide your case) FINRA arbitrations are typically much faster than Court and can be done much more cheaply than a court case can be done.

In addition, when you sue a broker-dealer in FINRA arbitration and win, the broker-dealer has 30 days to pay the award or they risk losing their license to trade securities. This means unless the broker-dealer is going out of business, we are able to collect the vast majority of our FINRA awards. At the end of the day, your Financial Advisor and the company she works for, have duties to you their customer, and if they breach those duties, you may be able to recover.

Specific Cases: