Business Notes STOCKBROKERS

Merrill Lynch was bullish on Alan Schlesinger as a prospective customer, but the company's brokers pushed him a little too far. Five years ago, the suburban Boston lawyer began an epic campaign to stop Merrill Lynch's brokers, as well as numerous rival callers, from peppering him with phone pitches. First he wrote a polite letter asking the company to desist, but still the calls came. Then he wrote a more threatening note, and still the calls came.

Schlesinger then sued the brokerage for invasion of privacy in Massachusetts county court and won the case last June (Merrill Lynch is appealing). The judge issued an injunction prohibiting Merrill Lynch from calling Schlesinger, yet barely two months later, a Merrill Lynch broker rang him up. The attorney filed a complaint for contempt of court, and Merrill Lynch was ordered to pay $300. Said a spokesman: "We tried everything to keep Mr. Schlesinger's name off the lists. But we have 12,000 brokers. One of the calls slipped through."