A federal judge has given the go-ahead to Florida planners Jeff and Kim Camarda to obtain documents and testimony from CFP Board officials in the planner’s legal challenge against the board.
 
In a series of orders Sunday, judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, denied motions by the CFP Board to stop the Camarda’s discovery requests.
 
Judge Leon also allowed the Camardas to amend their lawsuit by adding antitrust claims and requests for unspecified damages.
 
The Camardas, of Camarda Wealth Advisory Group in Fleming Island, Fla., are also seeking an injunction to block the board’s disciplinary action against them.
 
“The upshot is that the case continues [with the amended complaint] and the discovery phase starts in earnest,” said Donald Hannaford, a spokesman for the Camardas.
 
The court’s rulings were simply procedural, said Dan Drummond, spokesman for the CFP Board.  “There has been no decision on the merits. [The] CFP Board will continue to vigorously defend this case.”
 
The Camardas sued the board last year after a disciplinary panel in 2012 found they had improperly used the term “fee-only” to describe their compensation.
 
The board’s proceeding against the Camardas led to the resignation in November 2012 of former board chairman Alan Goldfarb, after a similar disciplinary proceeding was brought against him.
 
In recent months the Camardas and the CFP Board have been going back and forth in procedural battles before judge Leon.
 
"Plaintiffs have issued expansive discovery requests, subpoenas and deposition notices as though they are free to re-litigate their [CFP Board] disciplinary proceedings in a ‘do over’ before this Court," the CFP Board said in a court filing last month.
 
The board accuses the Camarda’s of seeking discovery that is irrelevant to the case.
 
The Camardas, in turn, accuse the board of  “stiff-arm[ing] … legitimate discovery requests.” 
 
In a court filing, the Camardas say that Adam Zajac, the CFP Board attorney who brought the case against them, refused to answer questions during a deposition last month.
 
The Camardas also want to depose CFP board chief executive Kevin Keller, managing director of professional standards Michael Shaw, Drummond, and four members of the board’s disciplinary panel.