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Case Database
»Securities Cases
Case Date: 3/21/2006
Rich v. Philip Spartis, Amy Elias and Salomon Smith Barney
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In a March 21, 2006 decision, the Honorable Denise L. Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a Liddle & Robinson Motion to Vacate an NASD Arbitration Award entered in favor Elizabeth and Donald Rich against Liddle & Robinson clients Philip L. Spartis and Amy J. Elias. While the Court noted that " an arbitration panel's decision is entitled to great deference," it agreed with Liddle & Robinson that a panel exceeds its power when it issues an award arising from claims concerning a security which is the subject of a class action settlement, bar order, and releases. The Riches sought damages from Salomon Smith Barney, Mr. Spartis and Ms. Elias arising from the alleged mishandling of their WorldCom employee stock options. During the arbitration, Liddle & Robinson advised the Louisville, Kentucky arbitration panel of the fact that the Riches failed to opt out of the WorldCom class action litigation, and thus had released all their claims against Salomon Smith Barney, Mr. Spartis and Ms. Elias. The Panel ignored this information and, instead of dismissing the Riches' WorldCom claims, issued a $448,000 decision in the Riches' favor on them. The Court ruled that for the Panel " to go ahead and 'decide' the matter anyway is ill-advised and clearly beyond any power the arbitrators have." The Court thus took the unusual step of vacating the Riches' Award.
Lawyer(s):
Jeffrey L. Liddle
David I. Greenberger
Web Info(URL) www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courtweb/pdf/D02NYSC/06-01158.PDF
Judge: Denise L. Cote
Case Date: 2/17/2006
Philip L. Spartis v. Stuart C. Goldberg
Award Amount- $1,000,000.00
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On February 17, 2006, after a two week trial, a Phoenix, Arizona jury found in favor of Liddle & Robinson, L.L.P.'s client Philip L. Spartis on both his claims for defamation and invasion of privacy/false light. The jury awarded Mr. Spartis $400,000 in compensatory damages and $600,000 in punitive damages. In August 2002, the Defendant, Stuart C. Goldberg, Esq. began operating a website at www.publicinvestorsattorney.com that concerned Mr. Spartis, Salomon Smith Barney, and the Atlanta Branch Office in which Mr. Spartis worked. Mr. Goldberg posted on his website a self-styled Special Study that he authored, called Salomon Smith Barney: Wordcom's Exclusive Employee Stock Options Administrator and SSB's Atlanta Branch Office's Boiler Room Operation. A second document authored by the defendant and published on his website was The Grubman Circle: Jack Grubman and Philip Spartis. Mr. Goldberg published the Special Study and Grubman Circle to solicit SSB clients who had WorldCom stock and/or employee stock options to use his services to bring lawsuits against Mr. Spartis, and to assist other attorneys with similar claims. Mr. Spartis served as a Senior Vice-President in Salomon Smith Barney's Atlanta Branch Office from 1984-1997, and as Director of the Corporate Client Group from 1997 until February of 2002. In these roles, Mr. Spartis helped win for Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. the exclusive right to administer WorldCom, Inc.'s employee stock option program, among many other corporate clients. The jury found that Mr. Goldberg made numerous false and defamatory statements concerning Mr. Spartis in his Special Study and Grubman Circle. Mr. Goldberg, among other things, stated in these materials that Mr. Spartis engaged in criminal conduct, was a member of organized crime, a participant in securities fraud, and the head of a boiler room operation. The case, Spartis v. Goldberg, (CV 2003-021588), was tried in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, Maricopa County, before the Honorable Paul A. Katz. Liddle & Robinson, L.L.P. partners James R. Hubbard, Jeffrey L. Liddle and David I. Greenberger represented Mr. Spartis, with the assistance of Arizona counsel Peter T. Limperis (of Haralson, Miller, Pitt, Feldman & McAnally, P.L.C.). Terrence P. Wood and Marilyn D. Cage of Broening Oberg Wood Wilson & Cass represented Mr. Goldberg.
Lawyer(s):
Jeffrey L. Liddle
James R. Hubbard
David I. Greenberger
Judge: Paul A. Katz
Case Date: 10/18/2005
Deborah Surrette and George Hughes v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. and Philip L. Spartis
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Our client, Philip L. Spartis, served as a Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. ( SSB) Corporate Client Group Director until February 2002. Claimants Deborah Surrette and George Hughes were SSB customers who sued Mr. Spartis and SSB, alleging, among other things, that Mr. Spartis acted negligently, fraudulently and breached his fiduciary duty to Claimants with regard to the handling of their employee stock options. We defended Mr. Spartis, claiming that the allegations against him were meritless because Mr. Spartis was not involved in the alleged sales practice violations, let alone commit any wrongdoing as to Surrette and Hughes. On October 18, 2005, after a 7-day hearing, a NYSE Panel issued an Award dismissing all of Claimant's claim and assessing all of the $20,850 in forum fees against the Claimants. Notably, the Panel also ordered the expungement of the arbitration from Mr. Spartis's regulatory record, stating that "after 13 hearing sessions, the panel orders that all references of this arbitration matter be expunged from Philip Spartis' CRD records as he was not involved in the alleged investment sales practice violation and the allegations are erroneous."
Lawyer(s):
Jeffrey L. Liddle
David I. Greenberger
Case Date: 10/21/2003
New York Stock Exchange v. Philip Spartis
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Our client, Philip Spartis, was accused by the New York Stock Exchange's Enforcement Division of failing to cooperate with the NYSE in connection with an investigation. A NYSE Hearing Panel found, after a hearing, that Mr. Spartis was not guilty on all counts.
Lawyer(s):
Jeffrey L. Liddle
David I. Greenberger
Web Info(URL) www.nyse.com/pdfs/03-176x.pdf
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