Tarnished telecom stock analyst Jack Grubman is facing an unprecedented legal assault as part of a strategy to collect damages for errant stock picks that cost investors tens of millions of dollars.

Plaintiff's lawyer Robert Weiss of Jericho, N.Y., says he will file as early as today more than 100 arbitration claims en masse with NASD, the securities industry self-regulatory organization.

The claims, each of which is being filed on behalf of an individual investor, is a marked departure from the traditional route to collect damages - a class action.

``I don't know of any mass filings like this with the NASD,'' says Thomas Ajamie, a plaintiff's attorney based in Houston.

Opening the door

If the strategy proves successful, it could open the door to arbitration for thousands of small investors who lost money in the tech stock crash but lack the resources to pursue individual legal claims.

Mr. Weiss says none of the claims exceeds $25,000. Securities lawyers, who often work for contingency fees amounting to one-third of a settlement, are typically loath to file arbitration claims for such small amounts.

``Many brokerage firms are cynical about [arbitration claims by] small investors,'' adds Mr. Ajamie. ``They know the small investor can't afford a lawyer.''

Plaintiff's attorneys in the past have filed arbitration claims for investors as a group. But the number of Mr. Weiss' investor claims could ultimately dwarf previous such filings before NASD, attorneys say.

In the coming months, Mr. Weiss says, he will file up to 1,000 similar claims against Citigroup Inc. of New York, its Salomon Smith Barney Inc. brokerage unit and Mr. Grubman.

According to NASD records, the former analyst has 43 unrelated complaints against him, the majority of which are pending.

The claims in the latest filing all focus on Mr. Grubman's research of WorldCom Inc., the Clinton, Miss., telecommunications company that filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

According to a summary of Mr. Weiss' complaint, Mr. Grubman and Salomon allegedly defrauded investors about WorldCom by issuing misleading research reports, failing to disclose conflicts of interest and denying investors independent and objective analysis.

In August 1999, Mr. Grubman wrote that investors should ``load up the truck'' and ``buy every share of WorldCom they can,'' according to the summary.

Mr. Grubman continued to rate the stock a ``buy,'' even as the broad market and telecom sector declined after March 2000, according to the statement.

WorldCom, which traded at as high as $62, is now trading for nickels a share. It admitted to fabricating almost $9 billion in earnings.

According to Mr. Weiss, each of his clients relied on Mr. Grubman's research to buy WorldCom shares.

``Small investors have not had a voice and have been subject to class action cases,'' he says.

In most successful class actions, Mr. Weiss adds, investors typically recover only pennies on the dollar.

His strategy, which he says draws on the expertise of several outside law firms, is similar to a ``mass tort'' such as tobacco or asbestos litigation.

Linda Fienberg, president of NASD Dispute Resolution, is confident that her division can handle any spurt in its caseload. Claims of less than $25,000 are handled by one arbitrator rather than a panel of three, she notes, which simplifies the process.

NASD will also add to its staff to deal with any increase in cases, and will work with both sides to set up procedures to handle the cases, she says.

The battle over Wall Street's stock research between firms and regulators kicked off last spring, when New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer made public embarrassing e-mails by Henry Blodget, the former Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. star Internet analyst.

The New York brokerage giant and Mr. Spitzer later reached a $100 million agreement to settle the charges.

But the states, pressuring NASD and Securities and Exchange Commission officials, joined together to put the heat on other firms and their stock research practices. By the end of this month, state officials expect to release the findings and details of some of their investigation that led to a ``global settlement.''

The settlement may cost the 11 largest investment firms $1.4 billion. Citigroup alone is expected to pay close to $400 million.

Mr. Grubman, meanwhile, quit Salomon last August but has reportedly agreed to pay $15 million in fines to settle with regulators.

According to his NASD file, he is under investigation by NASD Regulation for his stock calls concerning Winstar Communications Inc. of New York.

Mr. Grubman got caught up in his own e-mail embarrassment when he bragged to a friend in 2001 that Citigroup chairman Sanford I. Weill helped secure spots for his two children at an exclusive Manhattan nursery school in 1999.

The help came after Mr. Weill asked Mr. Grubman to take a ``fresh look'' at AT&T Corp. of Basking Ridge, N.J. At the time, Mr. Grubman was bearish on the stock, but after Mr. Weill intervened at the school, he started recommending it.

Mr. Grubman later claimed he had invented the story. Mr. Weill acknowledged helping his children but denied conditioning it on Mr. Grubman's upgrades. At the time, Mr. Weill was trying to curry favor with AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong, a Citigroup director, in a bid to oust Citigroup's former co-chairman John Reed