News articles have frequently quoted and reported on cases won by our attorneys.
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Panel Awards Money for Loss: Six lost thousands investing through Kernersville broker,
Wesley Young, Winston-Salem Journal, July 4, 2007.
An arbitration panel ... has awarded six people compensation for losses they suffered when they bought bad investments from Scott Hollenbeck,... an attorney representing the investors said yesterday.
The law firm of Goodman and Nekvasil ... announced that the investors ... had been awarded a total of $872,496.32. The ruling was against FSC Securities Corp. of Atlanta, the company for which Hollenbeck worked....
The award ... makes it likely that more than 100 other Hollenbeck investors will recoup losses, said Kalju Nekvasil, an attorney with Goodman and Nekvasil.
The award ... slammed FSC for failing to supervise Hollenbeck....
"Investors who have been victimized by Hollenbeck may have a remedy against FSC," Nekvasil said. "It sends a message to brokerage firms that you do have a duty to warn your elderly clients when you terminate a broker for violating serious rules and securities laws...."
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Panel Awards Woman $273,000: Kannapolis firm named in fraud lawsuit that ends with lawsuit,
Paris Goodnight, Salisbury Post, August 12, 2006.
An arbitration panel ... has awarded a retired Philip Morris worker more than $273,000 ... The three-member panel ruled that [the investor] ... was victimized in a scheme that defrauded retired workers out of their life savings....
The law firm of Goodman & Nekvasil ... represented [the investor]....
"It's very gratifying to see [the investor] made whole," said Kalju Nekvasil, her attorney.
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Who are the Scam Victims?,
Helen Huntley, St. Petersburg Times, July 18, 2006.
Clearwater lawyer Joel Goodman ... represents many investors who have been defrauded....
"These are not people who were looking for high returns in the stock market," he said. "They're looking for CD‑like safety."
They have fallen for pay telephone and ATM scams that promised them steady income "secured" by ownership of the equipment. They got taken by promissory notes supposedly securing medical equipment being purchased by doctors. They lost hundreds of millions of dollars in viatical scams–buying interests in life insurance policies on people who were supposedly on the verge of death....
"The problem is not with the victims," he said. "The problem is with the assailants. The people who are the wrongdoers are the brokerage firms who license the individual brokers who promote these scams."
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Investor Awarded $447,000 for Losses: Firing a "loose cannon" was not enough for SII Investments, found liable in arbitration for failing to warn the broker's customer,
Helen Huntley, The St. Petersburg Times, October 27, 2005.
[L]awyer Kalju Nekvasil took a chance when he agreed to represent an 85-year old widow whose broker cost her most of her life savings. All he had to go on was an unusual legal theory:
"Brokerages must warn their clients of negative information about their brokers so that they can protect themselves," Nekvasil said....
An arbitration panel for the National Association of Securities Dealers agreed that [the brokerage firm] was liable ... and awarded ... $447,000....
"When you are in a fiduciary business, taking money from people because they trust you, it means putting their interests before your own and disclosing these risks to people," Nekvasil said. "It's about time firms followed that."
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Prokop Ordered to pay $5.18 Million for Pay Phone Scheme,
Andrea Wood, The Business Journal (Youngstown, Ohio), October 21, 2004.
"John Prokop jeopardized people's lives, their existence and their health for $10 million in sales of pay phones from which he pocketed commissions of more than $1 million," fumed Joel A. Goodman, a partner in Goodman & Nekvasil.... "He promoted fraudulent schemes as safe, guaranteed investments to elderly people, retirees, people who had severe health problems, people who were told to mortgage their homes because their payphones would do better than their homes." ...
"Prokop, in his securities sales practice, committed gross negligence, fraudulent inducement and fraudulent misrepresentation," the arbitrators ruled. The award–$3.14 million in compensatory damages and $1.57 million in punitive damages and $500,000 in sanctions–"results directly from the panel's findings of security law violations and fraudulent and negligent sales practices."
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Securities Brokerage Must Arbitrate Investor Claims,
Ertel Berry, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, October 4, 2004.
Even though a brokerage firm didn't authorize or know about a broker's outside business deals, the investors he allegedly defrauded could still take the firm to arbitration, the Fourth Circuit has held....
"This is a major decision that applies to all securities brokers," said... Joel Goodman, a lawyer for the investors....
"As a result of this decision, you don't need a formal account to be a customer... ," Goodman said. "... They can go against the firm in arbitration as customers, without a formal account, because ... they're dealing with the firm."
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Arbitrators Rule in Favor of Fraud Victim,
Barry Flynn, Orlando Sentinel, October 22, 2003.
For the first time in the years-long Evergreen Security Ltd. fraud case, a brokerage firm has been made responsible for one of its customers' losses in the phony investment fund....
The ... case involved [a] stockbroker ... who ... persuaded [the investor] and her late husband ... to invest their life savings ... in the fraudulent fund, according to their lawyer, Joel A. Goodman....
A three-member arbitration panel ... ordered that [the investor] be reimbursed for the couple's losses....
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14 Area Senior Citizens Get $729,000 in Suit against Depew Firm,
T.J. Pignataro, The Buffalo News, October 11, 2003.
Fourteen senior citizens who were swindled into investing money in pay telephones in the late 1990s have been awarded more than $729,000 by a Buffalo arbitration panel ....
"This case shows that ETS Payphones investors do have remedies against brokerage firms that fail to supervise their sales agents," said Joel A. Goodman, . . . who represented the claimants.
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Feeling Defrauded, Couple Fought Back–and They Won: Couple delivered from financial hole,
Craig Schneider, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 24, 2001.
The [investors], now retired from their ministry, chased their lost money for three years. Along the way, they learned hard lessons about human nature....
In a last desperate shot, they called an attorney ... Kalju Nekvasil, a[n] . . . attorney experienced in handling cases like theirs....
Their attorney did not build up their hopes, and he assured them that if they didn't win a dime, he didn't get a dime....
The arbitration panel ... awarded them $171,736....
The [investors'] investment nightmare had ended
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Widow Wins Damage Award: She had sued Shields & Co. over risky notes a broker at the company's Sarasota office sold her and her late husband,
Michael Pollick, Sarasota Herald Tribune, September 28, 2001.
A . . . widow ... and her husband were sold risky promissory notes....
A[n] ... arbitration panel ... awarded more than $200,000....
... Joel Goodman, the ... attorney who won the case ... said ... brokerage businesses have a legal obligation to supervise brokers....
"This case shows that ... investors do have remedies against the brokerage firms that failed to supervise their sales agents," Goodman said.
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Investors' Victory,
John Lemons, Canon City (Colorado) Daily Record, September 5, 2001.
A recent decision ... resulted in the recovery of more than $100,000 of investors' money for several ... residents who were the victims of investment fraud.
"It is a huge recovery," said Joel Goodman.... "This is a huge victory for investors and investors' rights." ...
"People don't have to take this kind of abuse," said the ... attorney ... .
The law firm of Goodman & Nekvasil represents hundreds of people who have lost money through fraudulent investments. The amount of money lost is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Goodman said.
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Man to Recoup Most of Sour Investment Thanks to Ruling,
Nancy Moore, The Gaston (North Carolina) Gazette, July 29, 2001.
[The investor] said he met a stockbroker, John McSwain ... through a friend in his square dancing group. He said McSwain recommended investments in two companies, Alliance Leasing Corp. and U.S. Capital Funding Inc.
"I was under the impression that these were safe and secure investments," [the investor] said....
This week, three arbitrators ... decided that McSwain's employer ... should repay [the investor] his losses....
Arbitrators ruled that the ... company failed to properly supervise McSwain according to the panel's findings.
"It's very gratifying to see our elderly client recover his losses," [Kalju] Nekvasil said.
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Brokerage Ordered to pay Keller Note Holders,
Dave Simanoff, Tampa Tribune, March 14, 2000.
First Associated Services Group and three of its employees were ordered to pay $583,000 to six local retirees....
Kalju Nekvasil [who represented the investors] said the amount of punitive damages makes the arbitration award significant.
"That shows that arbitration panels ... are looking out for people," he said. "This is basically a warning to stockbrokers–when you target elderly people for investments, you do so at your own peril."
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Walnut Creek Mutual Fund Group Fined: 5 Bay Area investors to get $943,000 in damages, costs,
Arthur M. Louis, San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 1999.
An arbitration panel has ordered the Walnut Creek's SIFE mutual fund group to pay $943,000 in damages and costs to ... investors who claimed they were bilked in an alleged Ponzi scheme....
[I]n arguments before an arbitration panel ... , the investors' attorney, Joel A. Goodman, ... said SIFE ... "failed to supervise and control the broker."
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John Hancock Must Pay Local Investors,
Barnet D. Wolf and Ron Carter, The Columbus Dispatch, May 29, 1999.
A securities-industry arbitration panel has awarded ... more than a quarter-million dollars as the result of their complaint about investments sold to them....
"They're not only getting all their money back, but John Hancock has to pay costs for the arbitration," said Kalju Nekvasil, a partner in the ... law firm Goodman & Nekvasil, which represented the investors.
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Three Investors Awarded $344K in Sale of Notes,
Ursula Miller, The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 24, 1999.
A securities arbitration panel has awarded three older ... investors $344,500 for money they lost....
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Kalju Nekvasil, the lawyer who represented the investors, said.... "They are not supervising their brokers. It's just that simple."
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Couple Wins $200,000 Arbitration Award,
Helen Huntley, St. Petersburg Times, April 3, 1996.
St. Petersburg investors ... have won an arbitration award of more than $200,000 against their former stockbroker and the ... brokerage firm where he worked. ...
"This award clearly shows that brokerage firms in Florida will be held absolutely liable for the securities‑related misconduct of their employees, even if the transactions were not processed through the firm and the firm did not benefit financially in any way," said Joel A . Goodman, ... who represented the [investors].
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Brokerage Ordered to Compensate Estate,
Helen Huntley, St. Petersburg Times, August 30, 1995.
A brokerage firm that allowed a Sarasota businessman to buy risky investments for his 97‑year‑old father's account has been ordered to compensate the older man's estate for the losses....
"This says that elderly people who are mentally incapacitated are entitled to have two watchdogs–the guardian and the brokerage firm,"' said Kalju Nekvasil, the . . . attorney for the estate. "A firm can't just close its eyes, which is what they did."
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Broker Must Advise Client on Stocks, Panel Says,
Barnet D. Wolf, Columbus Dispatch, April 15, 1994.
Does a broker have an obligation to encourage a customer to sell shares of stock bought before the client's account was opened?
According to a three‑member ... arbitration panel ... , the answer is yes.
The panel ordered a Columbus broker and the securities firm for which he once worked to pay [a] former customer ... for not recommending that she sell stock....
[The investor's] attorney, Joel A Goodman ... argued that a securities salesman and firm have a continuing duty to monitor a customer's account and affirmatively advise the client on the course of action that should be taken.
"You have an obligation when you manage your customer's account," said Goodman, who handles securities cases across the country. "A novice customer has a right to rely on the expert."
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‘I Want to Be Their Nightmare': Securities lawyers ‘on a crusade' for investors,
Karen Tippett, Tampa Bay Business Journal, June 18-24, 1993.
If Robin Hood had been an attorney, he would have worked at Goodman & Nekvasil. While other people relax ... , attorneys Joel Goodman and Kalju Nekvasil sharpen their arrow for another round of fighting with some of Wall Street's biggest names....
... Goodman and Nekvasil have little sympathy for the securities industry. For that reason, they generally are prepared to fight rather than settle.
"We'll commit whatever resources are necessary," Goodman says.
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A Cautionary Tale for the Little Investor: An accuser of Raymond James opens a window on the industry's dark side,
Susan Antilla, The New York Times, February 28, 1993.
Raymond James has also suffered moments of confusion over who is responsible for supervising employees, said Joel A. Goodman.... Mr. Goodman represented a 72-year-old woman who said the branch manager in the firm's Palm Harbor office churned her mutual fund account....
Mr. Goodman's client was awarded $416,000 by the panel of arbitrators, $280,000 of which was punitive damages. A[n] ... appeals court upheld the decision earlier this month.
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