The Stock Market and You, 2009

New York, NYThe stock market: a source of fear for some, a source of wealth for others. But the current turning of the global economic tide has resulted in unprecedented losses for just about everybody. Thus, while consumers reign in their spending and investors take to the sidelines until they figure out what to do, it's safe to assume that the legal community may be one of the few sectors that will be busier.

There will be citizens who will have never set foot in a courtroom before now, but just may if it is determined that litigation is the only way to reverse stock losses at the hands of an unscrupulous broker. Seniors with severely-depleted nest eggs, who would never be accused of complaining in the past, have awakened to a new era that casts severe doubt on their abilities to sustain themselves as they contemplate entering retirement, in some cases delaying retirement, or search for a way to carry on with the retirement they are suddenly not enjoying.

When you're desperate, you will attempt things hereto fore foreign for you—such as an attempt at litigation, to get your money back.

There is little doubt that this global economic downturn, which appears to have started in the US and has spun around the world, has affected everybody. And there are those, for whom not much can be legally done. If your investments were managed properly, and invested in the stock market according to your express wishes, one might argue that there is little you can do but ride it out (if you can). The stock market is volatile—a living, breathing thing that can be robust one day, only to come down with a case of the flu, the next. Provided you were made aware of all the risks you were taking with your money, provided everything was up-front like it should have been, then you rolled the dice and lost like a lot of other people.

Here's the good news: what goes down, eventually goes back up. Now, with the markets appearing to have hit rock bottom, may not be the time to sell. In fact, if billionaire businessmen are any source of inspiration, now is the time to BUY. But you may not have their cash to go on a buying spree. Nor may you have the time to ride this thing out.

The key, then, is to take a good hard look at how your investments were managed on your behalf. The fact that the stock market took a record-breaking tumble may not provide much of an argument for you. Indeed, the sheer size of the expanse of blame that contributed to the global economic mess makes it much too large to be taken apart and analyzed piece by piece, for the affixing of blame.

In Canada, a judge recently threw out a lawsuit brought by an investor who found fault with his financial guru(s) for failing to predict a downturn in the market. Few did, and even fewer still foretold the massive scope of the implosion. No one was listening to them anyway. While there were many who may have seen this coming 'one day,' few would have predicted that the bubble would burst as soon, and as swiftly as it did.

The key, then, is in the details of your investments. If your money was invested in high-risk products when you expressly wanted conservative, you may have a case. If your broker did not disclose the true risks of the fund(s) he was investing your money in, on your behalf, you may have a case. Likewise if you hold a 401(k) or some other kind of retirement fund with a former employer who is charged with the fiduciary duty to invest, and conduct the management of those investments in a prudent way with your best interests at heart—and that didn't happen—you may want to talk to your lawyer. A retirement funds manager, for example, who invests your portfolio heavily in, say, his own company in an effort to help the company during a lean, or troubled period—all the while ignoring prudent investments outside of that company's product base that would have been better for you, erred. And you have a case.

If you just lost in the stock market like millions of others did, you may be SOL beyond holding a grudge against all those greedy executives and companies that served as the ultimate architect of the mess we find ourselves in now. Damn them, anyway.

However, if you have a broker, adviser or funds manager who had a hand in those losses and brought them to fruition, by all means see a lawyer right away. If you're going to be able to eat, have a roof over your head and afford your meds in your old age, you may have no other choice.