David P. Meyer

The Decision Reserved to the Client

The account agreements in Burns v. Prudential Securities placed investment decisions with the clients. The roughly three hundred members of the Marion County, Ohio, retiree class held nondiscretionary accounts: a broker could recommend a change, but the customer retained authority to approve it.

In October 1998, approximately 2,600 trades involving more than $40 million moved client holdings without prior consent. Portfolios that had generally held stocks and bonds were shifted heavily into a money-market fund. David P. Meyer appeared among the lawyers representing the investor class.

The litigation examined the trades, the firm’s duty to investigate, disclosure of what had occurred, and restoration of the accounts. Ohio courts repeatedly kept the state-law contract, fiduciary-duty, conversion, and negligence claims in state court, where the case proceeded to class certification and trial.

Judgment and Payment

The common pleas court entered partial summary judgment on breach of contract, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty and held Prudential Securities responsible for conduct within the broker’s employment. After a month of evidence, the jury returned compensatory findings that produced relief of approximately $12.3 million, together with roughly $4 million in prejudgment interest and about $2.8 million in attorney fees and expenses.

The Ohio Court of Appeals preserved the compensatory judgment, interest, fees, class treatment, and the principal liability determinations. Meyer Wilson reports that every class member ultimately received 100 percent of the member’s actual losses and that attorney fees and expenses were paid as well.

The investor class litigated account authority, liability, certification, trial, appeal, and collection.

Insurance Before a Hearing

Meyer addressed collectability in a 2018 comment on FINRA’s proposal for disclosure of liability insurance in customer arbitrations. He supported timely disclosure by firms that were thinly capitalized or not self-insured and urged production of the complete policy, including amendments and riders.

Coverage information can shape settlement discussions, pleading decisions, and recovery strategy. Meyer urged firms to supply the full policy while the parties could still use it during the dispute.

The Public Record After Arbitration

A 2021 expungement study co-authored by Meyer for the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association examined thousands of arbitration awards and recommended meaningful participation by customers, state securities regulators, and an investor advocate before customer-dispute information is removed from the registration system.

A separate report co-authored by Hugh Berkson and Meyer examined unpaid customer awards and proposed a national recovery pool for eligible claimants. The proposal treated collection as an industry-wide responsibility when an investor held a valid award but the respondent could not or would not pay.

Together, the insurance, expungement, and unpaid-award work addresses what happens after liability is established: whether the record remains accurate, whether coverage is available, and whether the recovery reaches the investor.

The Present Practice

Meyer is the managing principal and founder of Meyer Wilson in Columbus, where his practice focuses on investor fraud litigation and securities arbitration. He earned a finance degree from Ohio University and a J.D. and LL.M. from Capital University Law School.

The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association named him a Director Emeritus in 2023. His work includes individual and class representation, insurance disclosure, expungement procedure, and recovery of unpaid awards.