Ohio Court of Appeals Upholds Multi-Million Dollar Class Action Judgment Against Prudential Securities

COLUMBUS – July 17, 2006 - The Ohio Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by a Marion County Court on behalf of 300 retirees against Prudential Securities, awarding the retirees what amounts to a judgment of just more than $30 million in a case based on unauthorized trading and breach of fiduciary duty.

In October 1998, a Prudential stockbroker sold more than $40 million worth of investments without the clients’ authorization. Once discovered, rather than immediately reversing the unauthorized trades at its own expense as required, the firm engaged in a course of action to fraudulently induce the retirees to ratify the improper trades in an effort to avoid paying the costs to reverse the trades. The retirees filed a class action lawsuit against the company in 1999. In October 2002, after several weeks of trial, the jury returned a verdict of $262 million in favor of the retirees, including $250 million in punitive damages. Prudential filed an appeal in an attempt to overturn the verdict.

“We are pleased with the Court of Appeals ruling as it relates to our clients’ actual losses and the finding that punitive damages are appropriate,” said Columbus attorney David P. Meyer, co-lead attorney for the class members. ”From the start of this case in 1999, our goal has been to recover the losses suffered by our retired clients, to get the attention of brokerage firms across the country, and make them recognize that you have to take care of your clients, and I think we have done that.”

The Court of Appeals upheld the compensatory damages awarded by a Marion County jury in the amount of $12.3 million (plus interest and other damages). The court further ruled that there was clear and convincing evidence to support the jury’s finding that Prudential’s actions demonstrated a conscious disregard for the rights and safety of the 300 retirees, and that Prudential acted with actual malice in its dealings with its clients.

The court agreed with the jury’s ruling that an award of punitive damages was appropriate, and found that a punitive damage award of $6.8 million (reduced from $250 million awarded by the jury) is a sufficient amount to both punish Prudential and to deter future conduct.

“The language in the Court of Appeal’s decision is the best thing to happen to investors in the State of Ohio in a long time in terms of their legal rights,” said Meyer, whose Columbus, Ohio, law firm represents individual investors against brokerage firms. “I expect this case to go a long way in helping other Ohio investors who become victims of stockbroker misconduct.”

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Attorney David P. Meyer is the principal of the Columbus-based law firm of David P. Meyer & Associates Co. LPA. Mr. Meyer devotes his practice to the representation of individual investors and consumers against corporate misconduct. The firm’s investor representation practice group has recovered millions of dollars in individual securities arbitration cases on behalf of retirees who had their life savings destroyed by unscrupulous stockbrokers. The firm’s class action practice group represents consumers nationwide in a variety of complex consumer class actions, taking lead roles in several large state and federal consumer class actions throughout the nation. Included among those are cases in which consumers bought defective products, or victims of deceptive advertising and marketing of goods and services.

Mr. Meyer was recently selected once again by his peers as an Ohio Super Lawyer Rising Star, as published by Law and Politics magazine. In addition, the firm’s investor representation practice was featured as the cover story in the August 2003 edition of Columbus C.E.O. Magazine.