service that was promised but was not delivered for instance suppose you give instructions to your financial adviser to invest in a particular instrument but later find out that he failed to follow your advice which resulted in a missed opportunity for you in such cases you can easily take your financial adviser to court fraud apart from civil suits a big chunk of investor complaints relates to fraud if your planner has been taking you for a ride you can file a criminal case under several sections of the indian penal code such as section 405409 which relate to criminal breach of trust should you do it the question that you need to ask yourself is whether you have the stamina and determination to take on a big brokerage house you need to keep in mind that most of these organisations have strong legal teams to tackle such cases filed by investors unless you have a strong case and have all the evidence in place filing a case may not be the best option for you besides if your contract with the brokerage firm states that disputes must be settled through arbitration you cannot file a case in court instead an arbitration tribunal will be set up to deal with your complaint if you are convinced that you want to take the judicial recourse start with shoring up your finances to deal with the case such cases are known to drag on for years and consequently your job or business could suffer prepare a kitty to pay lawyers and court fees as well as other related costs make an estimate of how much you may receive if you win the case and if it is viable for you to sue the financial planner rem ember you will go through tremendous emotional stress as well so it is essential to weigh your options including an outofcourt settlement before you decide on filing the case against the adviser