A former LPL Financial broker who sought more than $1 million in damages for defamation and other claims was instead ordered to pay executives of his former branch more than $400,000.
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While none of the parties has confirmed there was a settlement, those payments sometimes come in the form of forgiven promissory-note debts for recruiting offers and transition payments to financial advisors, according to attorney Dochtor Kennedy of
"It's not very often that you see someone recover their attorney fees in these things," Kennedy said. "Typically, to recover them the key word is 'frivolous.' Either you made it up or you were just delusional from the start."
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Representatives for LPL, which
The nearly four-year process of defending against the case was "extremely mentally draining," Russo said in an interview. He declined to discuss the case beyond confirming the official records, which show that Independent Advisor discharged Dickman "as a result of termination from his registered broker-dealer," according to BrokerCheck.
"What we had in our favor obviously was the truth and the facts. That helped us and thankfully provided the result that was provided," Russo said. "You really feel like a victim because there's nothing you can do to stop the bills."
The case displays how
Dickman moved back to Independent Financial under its brokerage after leaving Independent Advisor, and he sought $1.4 million in compensatory damages and an expungement of the official Form U5 filings in his termination. He initially accused LPL and the Independent Advisor executives of defamation, libel, slander, fraud, misrepresentation, tortious interference, unfair trade practices, breach of contract, breach of regulatory duty causing harm, unjust enrichment, intentional infliction of emotional harm, negligent hiring, failure to train, failure to supervise and other violations of FINRA rules. Each of the respondents denied those allegations.
After several amendments to the original August 2019 filing, Dickman withdrew his case against LPL last year. In May, the arbitrators granted a motion by Sexton and Russo for a directed verdict throwing out the case and an award of costs.
"The panel granted Sexton and Russo's motion for a directed verdict because the evidence presented was insufficient to meet the evidentiary standard for liability with respect to Sexton and there was no evidence presented by [Dickman] with respect to Russo," according to a brief explanation included in the award document. "The panel ordered briefing and oral argument on the request for costs."
In their decision, the panel rejected Dickman's request for expungement and ordered him to pay $380,067 in attorney fees, $28,372 in costs and additional interest fees. Out of total hearing session fees of $15,850, the panel assigned 72% of the cost, or $11,425, to Dickman.
"It's a high bar to get that vacated, and it's going to be fought tooth and nail," Kennedy said.
Russo expressed hope that Dickman would "adhere to their decision" and pay the costs ordered by the panel.
"I'm thankful that Mr. Dickman was able to go back to IFP three months following his termination," Russo said. "I hope that he's able to move forward and be successful moving forward."
