Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey, PLLC

INVESTMENT DISPUTES & SECURITIES LITIGATION

Our highly knowledgeable attorneys have represented individuals, small businesses, national investment firms,

and publicly traded corporations in securities class actions, securities arbitrations, and in a wide range of other investment disputes.

If you are facing litigation or if you believe you have been unfairly treated with respect to transactions in stocks, bonds, or other investment classes, our experienced attorneys can help to fight for your rights.

Investment Disputes // Securities Litigation

How Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey Can Help

We represent companies, officers and directors, financial institutions, and investors in disputes over securities and financial transactions. That includes defending claims and bringing them.

Our work in this area is in federal court, in Florida circuit courts, and before FINRA arbitration panels, and the firm handles the appeals arising from its own litigation in the Eleventh Circuit.

Securities Class Action Defense

A putative securities class action is an existential event for a public company and a personal one for the officers named alongside it. The early motions decide most of it, and they are decided on the pleadings, on scienter, and on loss causation long before anyone reaches the merits.

We have defended a publicly traded corporation and several of its officers against a putative securities class action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Custodians, Trustees, and Financial Institutions

Institutions that hold assets for others get sued when those assets turn out to be worthless, on theories that the institution should have known. The defense turns on what the account agreement actually required and on what duties the law imposes on a custodian as distinct from an adviser.

We have appeared for a custodian bank in litigation concerning its contractual and fiduciary duties with respect to securities later shown to be fraudulent, including on appeal in the Eleventh Circuit.

FINRA Arbitration

Disputes between investors and brokerage firms go to FINRA arbitration rather than to court, and the differences are substantial: limited discovery, no meaningful appeal, and panels that include industry arbitrators.

We have represented parties in arbitrations before FINRA panels and under American Arbitration Association rules.

Investment Fraud and Misrepresentation

Investors who have lost money to a misrepresented investment have claims under the federal securities laws, under the Florida securities statutes, and at common law for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. The practical questions are usually whether there is a solvent defendant and whether the claim is timely.

Commercial Financial Disputes

Not every financial dispute is a securities case. Disputes over payment processing, healthcare payor contracts, management services agreements, and commercial financing turn on the contract and on the industry practice behind it.