Morgan Stanley to Face Hundreds of Suits Over Withheld E-mail
Morgan Stanley’s concession that it had backup copies of e-mails it said were lost in the terrorist attacks has plaintiffs attorneys eager to file suit.
The financial services firm conceded in a settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority last month that it failed to provide backup e-mails to arbitration claimants over a three-and-a-half year period ending in March 2005, the Daily Business Review reports. It agreed to pay a $3 million penalty for withholding the backup e-mails and $9.5 million to establish a fund for claimants.
But lawyers told the Review the fund is inadequate, and they will file hundreds of lawsuits seeking punitive damages against Morgan Stanley.
Plaintiffs lawyer Darren Blum of Coral Springs, Fla., who has the Web address SueMorganStanley.com, says his firm will file hundreds of suits before the year is over.
But West Palm Beach securities defense lawyer Kathy Klock says investors will need to prove their cases were hurt by the missing e-mails—and that’s too high a hurdle for most plaintiffs. “Our society is very litigious, and [people] have to accept the fact that they didn’t have a critical claim and move on,” she told the legal publication.
