 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Castillo v. Nationwide Financial Services9/9/2003
(REGULAR CALENDAR)
DECISION
. Plaintiff-appellant, Mercedes Castillo, appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas which granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., and related parties ("Nationwide"), and additionally found moot Nationwide's motion to compel and appellant's motion for class certification. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.
. Appellant is a senior citizen who came to the United States from her native Equador in the 1970s, obtaining employment in the New York City area as a domestic. In August 1994, she was visiting her local Citibank branch to conduct business when she ran into a friend who suggested she make a retirement investment, and who then took her to Carmen Andrade, who was employed at the bank as a financial consultant for Citicorp Investment Services. Among Andrade's duties was to inform customers about various investment options and to assist them in opening investment accounts. One of these options was a "Best of America" variable rate tax-deferred annuity offered by Nationwide, and sold by Andrade as an authorized agent for Nationwide. With Andrade's assistance, Castillo immediately purchased a $2,000 annuity.
. In her deposition, Andrade testified that she did not recall any specifics regarding her meeting with Castillo and subsequent sale of the annuity, but that her general practice was to show customers a prospectus and review with them the terms of the investment, answering any questions they may have. She also stated that she was trained to question customers regarding their particular financial circumstances and goals, and to recommend an investment suitable to the individual customer. She could not recall whether appellant asked for an annuity or whether she recommended one, but stated that she would not have signed appellant's application for the annuity if she had not believed this was a suitable investment for appellant.
. Appellant's deposition reveals that her friend who took her to Andrade, stated: " isten Mechita, this is to do it here," and told Andrade "this is a lady friend of mine who wants to do this," upon which appellant told Andrade she wanted an IRA. (Depo. at 39, 60.) According to appellant, Andrade then assisted her in filling out the forms and removing $2,000 from appellant's bank account in order to purchase an "Individual Retirement Annuity" from Nationwide, and that this process took about 20 minutes. Although appellant was given copies of her application form, disclosure statement and prospectus, she admits she did not read these documents and did not ask any questions prior to signing the application. She said that it was not until early October 1994, when she received the first statement reflecting a decrease in value of her investment, that she realized the annuity was not right for her. At that time, she said she went back to the bank to "have it out" with Andrade, and was told by Andrade, and subsequently by others, that she needed to give the investment more time, and that there would be a penalty if she withdrew the money from the annuity prior to the expiration of seven years. (Depo. at 54.) She stated that when the seven years was up, she redeemed the annuity for $2,734.12. Although she admitted her decision to invest in the annuity was "spur of the moment," she asserted that Andrade did not give her sufficient information about the investment to allow her to make an informed choice, and that Andrade did not attempt to ascertain appellant's financial circumstances or explain the exact nature of the annuity before selling it to her. (Depo. at 127.)
. Appellant's dissatisfa
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|