David Belcher secured a dismissal of all claims against our brokerage firm client in an arbitration before FINRA. The claimant had alleged that our client was liable for its predecessor’s conduct and that our client failed to respond adequately to inquiries by the personal representative of a customer’s estate concerning annuity beneficiary designations. The renewed motion to dismiss was allowed under FINRA Rule 12504 following the outright denial, or denial in large part, of eight different motions filed by claimant against our client. A dismissal by motion prior to a FINRA evidentiary hearing is extraordinary and, particularly under the circumstances, it saved our client tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours of employee time in defending against the claims at a hearing.

January 2016