To be clear, the Lickiss case does not guarantee that all brokers who seek the court's equitable assistance for expungement will be successful. What Lickiss does seem to guarantee, however, is that when a financial advisor seeks expungement relief based on the court's powers of equity, the court must look beyond the confines of Rule 2080 and evaluate competing concerns with the goal of reaching a fair result. Avoidance of unfair hardships resulting from increased investor access to complaint information is a strong concern for brokers that can and should be considered by the court, and Finra's new and proposed regulations may just provide brokers with an edge in the competition of fairness for expungement.
Joelle A. Simms is an attorney in the Securities and Insurance Law practice groups of Bressler, Amery & Ross. Her securities practice focuses on representing broker-dealers and registered representatives in customer dispute arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra). Joelle can be reached at 954-430-7834 or by email, [email protected]