Jonathan Evans and his co-counsel, Michael Edmiston, won in back-to-back arbitration hearings before Los Angeles based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panels. In both cases, the conduct of the brokers and their firms was so shocking that both arbitration panels awarded attorney’s fees and securities expert witness fees along with sizable compensatory damages. Street Insider.com also reports that in the second hearing:
Evans represented a single-mother of two whose broker, Shapour Javadizadeh, of RJJ Pasadena Securities caused massive trading losses in her account with a high-risk option trading strategy. His client inherited the account from her father in 2002 and was using the money to pay her living expenses while rebuilding her life. In a hard-fought week of hearings, which saw numerous “attorney-only” conferences with the Arbitration Panel, including one which resulted in sanctions against the Respondents for their shenanigans in withholding documents, Evans prevailed for his client. The Panel awarded $151,000 in compensatory damages, attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, and sanctions.
“During my cross-examination of the broker, I was amazed when he literally stood up before the Panel and admitted he did everything complained about in the Claim. It was a moment out of a courtroom drama, and his admission won the case for us,” said Evans, reflecting back on the hearing. The FINRA case number is 06-04288 and the award may be found at http://www.finra.org.