On August 30, 2010 the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s congressionally mandated study of implementing a fiduciary duty standard for brokers.

COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO SEC:

Michael  Hill, Esq., CFP
Managing Partner of Securities Law Firm of Menzer Hill, P.A.
Boca Raton, Florida

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer Hill, P.A. supports the Study Regarding Obligations of Brokers, Dealers, and Investment Advisers pursuant to the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. As an attorney, and former chief compliance officer for about 10 years, it is time that the Commission simplifies and codifies the roles of brokers and investment advisers.

Public investors are confused between the two roles and cannot discern whether a financial advisor is operating as a broker or as an investment adviser when dispensing advice. Many times industry persons are dually-registered and even retain customers having both a brokerage account and an investment advisory account. The Commission should enact standards of conduct for the dually-registered person so that the investor is treated fairly and consistently.

The Commission should enact fiduciary duty standards when a broker solicits or recommends the purchase or sale of a security. It should not be whether the broker is handling an investment advisory account (i.e., fee-based account) or commission-based account but whether the investor is entrusting him or herself to the professional advice, guidance, and disclosure by the broker.

Investors should also be afforded the ability to seek private recourse should the broker/investment adviser breach his or her fiduciary duty and not be left solely to the investigatory efforts of regulators.

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer Hill, P.A. primarily represents investors and practices in the areas of securities arbitration and litigation annuities and insurance arbitration and litigation investment adviser arbitration and litigation hedge fund and alternative investment arbitration and broker representation.

Menzer Hill, P.A.
7777 Glades Road
Suite 100
Boca Raton, FL 33434
http://www.menzerhill.com

The latest in a tangled series of state and federal court decisions has halted New York state's plan to collect taxes on cigarettes sold by Native American retailers to non-Indian customers.

A state appellate court judge in western New York on Wednesday restored an order stopping the collections, Gov. David Paterson's office said. An earlier order had been lifted Monday by a state judge, a decision appealed by the Seneca and Cayuga nations.

Those tribes won a separate federal court order Tuesday temporarily barring collections against them. But the state had said it would start imposing the $4.35 per pack levy on other reservation retailers starting Wednesday.

"We are disappointed today that the appellate division has stayed the implementation of our statute and regulations with respect to licensed stamping agents," Paterson spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said. "Despite this ruling, we believe the state's legal arguments are sound and we believe that ultimately the state will prevail in this matter."

The Indians' challenges are in multiple courts because they're attacking the taxation on several levels. The Senecas' federal court suit, which the Cayugas joined, seeks to invalidate the state tax law by arguing New York lacks jurisiction to regulate Indian nations within their territories. The tribes' state court challenge, meanwhile, opposes the expedited way New York tax officials chose to adopt the regulations to implement the law, not the law itself.

Two Los Angeles County teenagers are suing Facebook, claiming the social network effectively sold their names and images to advertisers without parental permission.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles challenges a Facebook feature that allows members to note that they like an advertised service or product. Facebook broadcasts those endorsements to the user's friends.

The lawsuit also claims minors unwittingly endorse Facebook when people typing their names in a search engine are steered to a Facebook sign-up page.

The plaintiffs say Palo Alto-based Facebook is violating a California law that requires parental consent for children to make commercial endorsements. The teens seek unspecified damages.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes says the lawsuit is meritless. He notes Facebook doesn't allow users under 18 to let their profiles appear on public search engines.