To sue or not to sue

[cranstjs]

My state is TX. The investment firm is Wachovia Securities, NJ as my financial advisor.

I have some losses in my Wachovia investment account (IRA) that were significant to me, and all were due to poor management of the account. The account had $221,000 two weeks ago, and now is down to $179,000. Part of the loss is due to mutual fund losses, but the lion share, $25,000 is due to the collapse of Fanny Mae market.

To back track a little bit, (and all of this is documented in emails): I communicated with my "manager" at Wachovia in February 2008 stating that I was "insecure with my holdings with the severely fluctuating stock market". I also spoke with him on the phone shortly after that and he agreed to move 50% of my holdings out of risky stock based investments to some secure CD or Money Market type account, in spite of yielding low interest. This, theoretically, would avoid the slam of the recession.

What I noticed was, on that date (August 11, 2008), I still had too many holdings that were stock based and he didn't follow my instructions clearly. He only move 25% of my holdings instead of 50%. (Bear in mind too, that I don't look at my investments all that frequently. Maybe once per month.)

Ultimately, on 9/4, I decided to get rid of Wachovia and switch to Fidelity and transferred my accounts to them. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the forthcoming Fanny Mae catastrophe the following Monday, and, I didn't even know that in June 2008, they shifted some of my funds into Fanny Mae - $25,000. Had either manager - the Wachovia or the Fidelity one, spotted this vulnerability, I could have liquidated that fund prior to the Monday crash.
But, instead, I lost the $25k.

Now, I feel compelled to sue Wachovia for mismanaging my account and shifting funds without my authorization or discussion into Fanny Mae thus causing a sizable loss. In addition, weeks prior to the crash of Fanny Mae, the writing was on the wall and I was ignored. Plus, my desires of shifting my money to safer investements were not obeyed fully.

What do you think about a potential lawsuit or do these places have protection with "absence of malice" disclaimers?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by cranstjs

What do you think about a potential lawsuit or do these places have protection with "absence of malice" disclaimers?

Of course, no one can have an accurate opinion without a complete and extensive 'financial forensics' of your brokerage account.
If you want to pursue this, due to the size and complexity of the issues, you can't do this without a GOOD attorney.

[cranstjs]

Thanks, J, for the reply. I agree this is a complicated issue.

I guess my two thoughts are:
Is there any info that suing for mismanaged investments can and has been successful in the past?
Since I am in TX and the firm is in NJ, should I use a NJ lawyer or a TX lawyer?

[anteater]

Your account agreement undoubtedly contains a clause that disputes go to arbitration. Try talking to your broker's supervisor first and work up from there.

[url=http://www.finra.org/ArbitrationMediation/index.htm]FINRA - Arbitration & Mediation[/url]