Securities /Brokerage Firm Litigation News
Our Securities/Brokerage Firm litigation team, led by Mark Krudys, achieved several recent victories on behalf of our clients in front of the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) Panel. In March 2013, our securities team obtained a $300,000 award from FINRA on behalf of a former executive of Anderson & Strudwick, a former Richmond brokerage firm, against five guarantors of a loan that our client made to A&S. When A&S defaulted on the loan, the five guarantors, former executives at A&S, refused to honor their guaranties. The FINRA Panel awarded the principal amount of the loan, interest, attorney’s fees, and filing costs.
In June 2013, our team won another FINRA award on behalf of the same former Anderson & Strudwick executive for unpaid employment benefits in the sum of $361,026, plus attorney’s fees and pre- and post-judgement interest.
In June 2013, our team achieved a signicant ruling from the FINRA Panel against First Command, a Texas-based brokerage firm that markets financial products to the military community. Our client, a former military officer turned investment advisor, sought to enjoin First Command from enforcing against our client an onerous non-compete clause contained in First Command’s standard employment contract with its investment advisors. The FINRA Panel ruled that the non-compete clause was unenforceable. This ruling may have implications for hundreds of First Command investment advisors.