By Mark J. Astarita, Esq.
This commentary is general information, not legal advice. Rules and their interpretations change; check the current rules or consult counsel before acting on anything here.
FINRA’s latest Dispute Resolution Services statistics, through September 2026, show customer cases rising, industry cases falling, and cases taking slightly longer to resolve.
Filings
Through September, 2,010 arbitrations were filed, up 7% from 1,881 a year earlier. Customer cases rose 16%, to 1,394 from 1,202, and now make up 69% of filings. Intra-industry cases fell 9%, to 616 from 679. All of 2025 produced 2,597 filings, well below 3,902 in 2020 and 7,137 in 2009.
What Customers Are Claiming
Negligence (1,015), breach of fiduciary duty (971), and failure to supervise (929) lead the customer claims, all up from 2025. Reg BI claims reached 445, against 130 at the same point in 2022. In my view, Reg BI is now a standard claim, not a novelty. Elder abuse claims rose to 183 from 150, and third-party fraud claims to 104 from 60.
By product, common stock leads at 334 cases. Private equities nearly doubled, to 152 from 88, and crypto cases rose to 44 from 25. REIT and corporate bond cases declined.
How Cases End
Of cases closed this year, 43% settled directly and 12% settled through mediation. Another 15% were withdrawn. Arbitrators decided 21%, including 15% after a full hearing.
Customer Results
The “win rate” depends on how you measure it. Across all customer cases decided, customers were awarded damages in 24%, down from 28% in 2025. After regular hearings, the figure was 29%, but FINRA counts pre-hearing dismissals as losses there. Looking only at in-person merits hearings, customers recovered in 47% (22 of 47); in Zoom hearings, 35% (12 of 34). All-public panels awarded damages in 42% of customer cases; majority-public panels in 7%, though that is only 29 cases. A “win” means some damages were awarded, not how much.
Time and Mediation
The average case took 13.8 months, up from 13.4. Mediation is moving faster: turnaround fell to 104 days from 129, with 82% of closed mediations settling.
Takeaways
In my view, customer filings are climbing again, most cases still settle, and any single “win rate” should come with an explanation of what it measures.
Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC
(212) 509-6544
seclaw.com
Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.
He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.
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