Economic Suicide: The Collision of Ethics and Risk in Securities Laws

The first part of this article looks at whether there are any legal principles derived from regulation or the case law to support an economic suicide claim. The second part of the article reviews arbitrators\u27 awards to determine whether arbitrators do, in fact, decide favorably on economic suicide claims. The article also looks at some arbitrators\u27 awards that appear to recognize an economic suicide claim to identify any factors that may lead arbitrators to award damages to the claimant. Finally, in the third part, we address whether policy considerations support an extension of recognized brokers\u27 duties to include a duty to prevent the customer from economic suicide