Adam Zimmerman on Securities Industry Class Action Waivers

February 28, 2013

In the Media

Analysis: Schwab class-action win aids brokers, may hurt investors
By Suzanne Barlyn, Reuters
Chicago Tribune
February 27, 2013

Excerpt:

Industry-wide class action waivers could give rise to bad behavior by some brokerages, said Adam Zimmerman, a law professor at St. John's University in New York. "What these waivers do is weaken the incentive to comply with the law," said Zimmerman, who has studied how class actions overlap with regulation.

If the bans are introduced across the brokerage community, they would not only mean a closed door for thousands of customers to join lawsuits to recoup small losses, but it would also eliminate one way in which regulators can monitor the industry for fraud.

Related News

Class Actions All the Way Down
By Sergio Campos
Columbia Law Review

Campos praises Adam Zimmerman and co-author Michael D. Sant’Ambrogio for the unique insights they offer on the lessons the class action can teach us, as set out in thier article The Agency Class Action, 112 Colum. L. Rev. 1992 (2012).