San Francisco, CA – Today, the law firm of Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane Abdullah Carr & Kane, LLP filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of its client, the City of Reno.
The case arises out of a FINRA arbitration that the City of Reno brought against Goldman Sachs. Reno instituted the arbitration because Goldman Sachs fraudulently withheld material information about the auction rate securities (“ARS”) that Goldman recommended to Reno and carried out for Reno. The City suffered many millions of dollars in losses as a result, which has negatively affected the City’s ability to serve its residents’ needs.
Goldman refused to participate in the arbitration. Instead, it filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the arbitration, contending that its arbitration agreement was invalid. The question before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether Goldman can avoid arbitration after it agreed to arbitrate all disputes with its customers like the City of Reno.
“The law is very clear that Goldman needs to honor its commitment to arbitrate. Goldman Sachs cannot arbitrate the disputes it would like to arbitrate and run to federal court at other times,” said Adam Wolf, a Partner at Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane and Counsel of Record in the Supreme Court for the City of Reno.