Posted by Financial Engines As a Litigation Theme
What is the basic difference between a plaintiff’s lawsuit and an injury attorney’s lawsuit? Are they similar at all? The answer, of course, is no. In fact, there are very big differences between the two types of cases, especially with the recent financial networks lawsuit being such a huge factor in the recent legal landscape.
Financial Engines Lawsuit
A plaintiff’s lawsuit generally relates to a breach of contract or some other harm that has been done to the plaintiff. This harm could be emotional or even financial, as well as to a person’s business. A typical lawsuit requires that a defendant either pay damages or a settlement in a court of law.
For many personal injury attorneys who deal with financial engineering, this is just not enough. They want their clients to be able to recover damages as a result of the defendant not only failing to maintain proper financial engineering policies, but as well as failing to engage in necessary due diligence as part of their business.
The financial engines lawsuit is a class action suit that has spread across nearly every sector of commercial and investment management.
It was named after the Financial Services Supervisory Commission, which is a government agency that was created to regulate consumer protection in the financial industry. The problem with the Supervisory Commission, however, is that many of its members are large banks and insurance companies that have a great deal of power and influence.
In addition, many members are financially intertwined with one another, making it difficult to come up with impartial decisions about individual complaints. As a result, the Supervisory Commission often comes into conflict with other agencies, which is what ultimately leads to the need for a class action suit.
It is also worth noting that the FISCA does not regulate investment advice, but only the actual lending and servicing of financial products, which includes mortgage loans and other investment vehicles.
A large portion of the Complaint revolves around the issue of fiduciary breaches, which is to say that a bank or other financial organization sought advice concerning the investment, placement, or management of a client’s finances in an attempt to benefit itself, rather than to seek out the best investment that would be for that client.
It should be noted that even among the financial engines lawsuit cases, a very high percentage of the cases seek advice from legal experts regarding the matter of whether or not a financial transaction is inherently suspect or not.
This is because of the inherent conflicts between the role of an attorney and the role of a financial agent. An attorney will essentially be looking out for the best interest of his or her client, while a financial agent will be looking out for the bank’s interest.
The second aspect of the complaint revolves around the total amount of fees that were improperly charged by the defendants.
While the total amount of fees may be within the purview of the law, the way in which they were charged is wholly at odds with the nature of the financial engines lawsuit itself. While plaintiffs typically seek damages for things such as interest and penalties, it is more common for them to seek “fees” of this type in order to settle the case out of court.
While there is no definite guideline as to what this fee structure following an event may look like, it is important to remember that it is nearly always required for a plaintiff to follow this structure.
The final complaint focuses on the manner in which the defendants attempted to handle their clients’ claims.
The defendants failed to adequately inform plaintiffs as to the true nature of their investments in financial engines, and in doing so, they deprived plaintiffs of their rightful compensation. Specifically, the defendants failed to disclose that their investments in these engines were the subject of the Complaint.
This information was not required to have been made available to the general public, and the bank simply chose to keep this fact hidden rather than seek advice regarding the matter from qualified tax experts regarding the matter of corporate taxes.
When the bank did eventually seek legal advice regarding the matter of corporate taxes, it was only after hiring a tax specialist that the bank was able to successfully avoid making financial engines a party to the lawsuit. It is clear that the complaint was intended to seek advice regarding the best options available for the plaintiff in its case of financial engines liability.