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As Woody Allen so famously quipped "I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." Ah yes, death is traumatic and inconvenient, especially our own. Be that as it may, a recent FINRA public customer arbitration highlights what happens when a party to a lawsuit dies before the case concludes and a verdict rendered.
In a sign of the times, a recent FINRA dispute between two former associated persons prompted a Stipulated Award. In furtherance of the parties' settlement, the Respondent was directed to immediately delink, unfriend, or disconnect from any connection with any Restricted Client on any social media platform, and to remain delinked, unfriended or disconnected for about a year. Additionally, Respondent was enjoined from communicating with, contacting, responding, "liking," "linking," commenting, giving a "thumbs up," reacting, or accepting any invitation to connect or communicate with any Restricted Client on any social media platform for about a year. All of which comes off as a modern-day Wall Street version of a time-out. Is this a wave of things to come? Who knows -- but now that it's out there, the genie is out of the bottle.