Florida planners will continue legal battle over use of fee-only compensation label.
Two Florida financial planners have decided to continue their legal battle against the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. over how they can describe their method of compensation.
On Wednesday, Jeffrey and Kimberly Camarda, managing members of Camarda Financial Advisors, filed an appeal for a public trial in a case that was dismissed last month by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
Mr. Leon threw the case out, arguing that a court cannot “second guess” the CFP Board about the way it enforces rules related to the investment advice credential it grants.
The Camardas said in a statement released Thursday that a trial would demonstrate the “substantial legal merit” of their case, which they first filed in 2013.
LONG ROAD
“The road has been long for us and we do not undertake its continuation lightly,” the Camardas said in a statement. “We believe there are grave wrongs to be righted here, with the welfare of the profession, and of the client public, hanging in the balance.”
The CFP Board brought a disciplinary case against the Camardas in December 2011, holding that they represented themselves as fee-only advisers despite the fact that an arm of their firm, Camarda Consultants, sells insurance for commissions. Under CFP rules, planners cannot use the coveted “fee-only” description if they are affiliated with an entity that can charge commissions.
“We believe that the judge's decision will stand and that an appeals court will agree with Judge Leon that CFP Board 'followed its own rules through the disciplinary proceedings' and that there is 'no evidence that [CFP Board] was motivated by bad faith or ill will' in disciplining the Camardas,” the CFP Board said in a statement.
(More: CFP Board: Judge's ruling validates our rights to protect the public)
When the details of the case are released publicly, they will show that the CFP Board's disciplinary process was unfair, according to the Camardas. They criticized the organization for “offering blanket amnesty and private deals” to other planners who violated compensation description rules.
TEMPORARY REPRIEVE
In September 2013, the CFP Board temporarily removed the fee-only label from its website and told the 8,000 CFPs using the term to reevaluate whether they complied with CFP rules before resetting it.
The Camardas also implied that the board's investigation of its former chairman, Alan Goldfarb, for mischaracterizing his compensation was politically motivated. Mr. Goldfarb resigned in November 2012.
