Ex Parte Alexander

The issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in staying the plaintiff's case pending arbitration of his claims.

Richard Alexander allegedly lost approximately $30,000 in the stock market on "Black Monday," October 17, 1987. He sued his broker, Jeffrey L. Howard of Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc., and Prudential-Bache for not limiting his losses to $7,500 by implementing a "stock loss program," which Alexander alleges is a mechanism that would have involved a sale of his stocks before the prices dropped below a certain level. Prudential-Bache and Howard claim that they do not know…