Business Notes

Betty Shapiro, 74, is an outgoing widow with four grandchildren, three daughters and a former stockbroker named Doris Edelman whom she considered her "fourth daughter." But a three-member panel from the American Arbitration Association has concluded that Betty Shapiro's fourth daughter took Mom to the cleaners. Edelman bought and sold millions of dollars of mutual funds on Shapiro's account, generating some $200,000 in sales charges and commissions. The panel's judgment: Edelman's employer, Prudential-Bache Securities, must pay $1 million in punitive fees and $546,769 in compensation to Shapiro.

The company (now called Prudential Securities) vows to appeal, terming the decision "erroneous." Shapiro's complaint is but one of a host facing Prudential, as irked investors seem more ready then ever to confront the securities industry. From 1988 to 1990, the American Arbitration Association intervened in 1,316 such cases.