http://terraextraneus.com Notes from the (Sometimes) Strange World of Securities, Insurance and Employment Law Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:44:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It always amazes me how unhelpful the software sites of manufacturers truly are. I was forced to upgrade to Windows 7 by an accumulation of errors in XP until my choices were only either reinstall XP or install 7. I chose the latter. Yes, I own an Apple Lap ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10357 In Raymond James Financial v Bishop, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed a district court judgment vacating an arbitration award. While the 4th Circuit opinion depicted the arbitration award as “incoherent,” the 4th Circuit’s opinion was little better. However, that the 4th Circuit ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10355 The Death Penalty Information Center, a group opposed to the death penalty, issued their year end 2009 report at deathpenaltyinfo.org. It indicated a decline in the number of executions during the decade just concluded with an up tick in 2009. The startling thing to me about this report is the ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10353 One of the things that will hamper if not ultimately destroy the utility of arbitration is that the largest non-securities self-regulatory arbitration forum, the American Arbitration Association, has begun to behave more like a scion of capitalism than a non-profit organization advocating reform. This has been brought about by ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10348 Investment News posted a story by the Associated Press reporting a trend in which the investor retreats from RIAs and traditional brokers, and then goes to an online source to learn about money managers. Next, the investor can select one or a group of professional money managers to track. ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10346 Carmelo Anthony, an NBA star with an $80 million dollar five year deal, according to the regular news media, found himself in the unenviable position of suing his financial manager, Larry Harmon. The news media reporting of the basic facts of the case has been garbled. But, somehow the case ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10343 American society seems to have accepted that one can be “voted off the island.” But, should that be allowed in relation to government employment that is protected by due process rights? The purpose of hedging governmental employment with due process rights is to prevent jobs from being used as patronage ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10341 Texas Tech University football head coach Mike Leach “suspended indefinitely” an offensive lineman “for violating team rules.” In the copyrighted AP story published by the Daily Oklahoman, the unattributed AP story seemed to imply that the lineman was suspended because he posted to his Twitter account a complaint that ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10339 The September 24 ,2009 warning by FINRA about leveraged and inverse ETFs was a bit annoying. If FINRA has to warn about it, should not there be new suitability rulemaking to go with it aimed at these products? Even the explanation by FINRA of what these products are lacks clarity ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10337 Associated persons (a/k/a "financial advisors," stockbrokers, etc.) should be wary of FINRA's new Rule 13806 which provides for a single arbitrator in promissory note cases. While the single arbitrator may be fine for default cases, where the associated persons plans to make no defense and files no answer, rarely ... http://terraextraneus.com/index.php/archives/10335