Why the Class Action Route Is Not Necessarily the Way to Recover Investment Losses
December 2nd, 2005 by 
Madelaine Eppenstein
According to the November 28 report appearing in InvestmentNews.com on a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce study, in securities fraud class action settlements “undiversified small investors recover only two cents of every dollar lost to fraud.” We are not surprised. In our October blog postings, we reviewed a New York court decision in 2002 that awarded our clients a total of $46 million, confirming an arbitration panel’s finding of statutory commodities fraud against Refco Inc. This was a non-class action court order, confirming National Futures Association arbitration awards rendered by a panel of three arbitrators. The full amount assessed against Refco was paid, including punitive damages and interest. That’s a recovery of about 150% of out-of-pocket losses. The moral is, as an aggrieved investor you don’t have to follow the pack; you have a choice – so carefully consider your options when you seek to recover your investment losses.
Posted in Securities Arbitration & Litigation
