There’s a billboard that I see on my way to work each morning that says the following:
**STOCK LOSSES?
Call us, you may have a legal remedy!!
Call our stock losses hotline at 1-800-blah-blah.**
So, my question is this…what possible legal remedy could there be for people who have lost money in the stock market? I’m assuming that this is pretty much a scam, but they’re obviously working some angle and I was wondering what it was.
Any lawyers out there know what this is about?
The idea is to sue your broker for giving bad advice / not working in your best interest. Analogous to medical malpractice. Actually it’s usually abitration rather than a suit, due to fine print in the contract you sign.
An attorney will look at your portfolio and see if there is any funny business going on. For instance, a high turnover of stocks can cause an over-abundance of brokerage charges.
The attorney will also check to make sure that the quality of stocks meet the requirements of your contract. For instance, your contract may limit your portfolio to stocks with a S&P rating of BBb or better. If you currently or previously owned stocks with lower ratings, that is a violation.
The attorney will also make sure any stop-loss orders were handled in a timely manner.
The attorney will also make sure that none of the companies whose stock has depreciated is or has been under SEC investigation. Ditto for the underwriters and brokers and even CPA firms.
That makes sense. Thanks, guys. 
Corporate officers have duties to stockholders. For instance, if officers make false statements as to profits, corporate health, or any of a million other things that could effect stock price, then the price at which you bought the stock may have been inflated over what the market would have priced it at were there no false information out there. Although it’s an arcane area of the law, the big picture is that stockholders who bought at this inflated price may be able to recoup their losses in a suit against the company or the officers who made the false statements. Googling for “Microstrategy” might give additional information. (That’s a company that cratered a few years ago and inspired a lot of this type of litigation.)
–Cliffy