Today, the securities-fraud arbitration award in favor of FSC client Lawrence Dale was confirmed. As reported earlier, Walker Friedman and Christian Tucker won a seven-figure FINRA arbitration award against Morgan Keegan based on that investment firm’s fraud surrounding an allegedly safe bond fund that instead contained high-risk mortgage-backed securities. In early 2013, Morgan Keegan moved to vacate the award, arguing to Dallas County’s 191st District Court that the panel chair was biased and had shown evident partiality in favor of the investor.
As support for its challenge, Morgan Keegan pointed to a highly unusual written dissent by the panel’s industry arbitrator, in which that arbitrator alleged bias on the chair’s part. Following discovery, and after two days of hearings, Judge Gena Slaughter today confirmed the award in favor of FSC’s client.