NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Feb. 11, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firms Kirby McInerney & Squire, LLP and Futterman & Howard, Chtd. announced today that an NASD arbitration panel has found Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MER), liable to former customers for punitive and compensatory damages associated with Merrill Lynch's systematic misuse of research analysts to court and cater to investment banking clients and prospects.
In making these awards the panel characterized Merrill's conduct as "egregious" in respect of, among other things, Merrill's failure to disclose that research reports were the product of conflicted interest, its breaches of NASD Regulations and NYSE Rules governing analysts conflict of interest, and Merrill's breach of its own internal Policy and Procedures Manual.
The ruling impliedly recognizes that, in deciding whether to deal at all with Merrill, investors were entitled to know that the firm engaged in systematic misconduct that brought its overall trustworthiness into question. (In e-mails released by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in April 2002, Merrill analysts privately disparaged stocks that they were recommending in research reports, and that Merrill's quest for investment banking business influenced company ratings by Merrill analysts). Although the claimants never spoke directly with any Merrill analyst, underlying the panel decision is recognition that, in deciding to deal with Merrill or make the investments they did through Merrill, investors would have thought it material that Merrill was untrustworthy in this arena.
Roger Kirby of Kirby McInerney & Squire noted, "The ruling is both significant and just. It recognizes that it is irrelevant whether Merrill Lynch's misconduct applied explicitly to every tech stock. Customers are entitled to expect their brokerage firm to play by the rules, and to know when they don't - a 'let thy broker be known' rule."
New York-based Kirby McInerney & Squire, LLP and Futterman & Howard, Chtd. of Chicago specialize in complex litigation, including securities litigation. The firms' efforts on behalf of investors in securities litigation have resulted in recoveries totaling many hundreds of millions of dollars, and the quality of their achievements has been chronicled by many courts. The firms are pursuing arbitration claims on behalf of additional former Merrill customers.