Egan v. Barry E. Loughrane Revocable Trust

Background

Michael J. Egan petitioned under the Federal Arbitration Act for confirmation of a November 5, 2021 arbitration award. He also sought an order directing the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to remove customer-dispute information from his Central Registration Depository (CRD) record.

The Barry E. Loughrane Revocable Trust had originally brought claims in a FINRA arbitration against Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation and Moors & Cabot, Inc. The claims arose from Variable Pre-Paid Forward Contracts entered into from 2011 through 2019. The Trust and the other parties settled the Trust’s claims, but the arbitration remained open so Egan could pursue expungement of information from his CRD record. The Trust’s claim had appeared on records connected to Egan’s termination and on his publicly available BrokerCheck report.

A three-arbitrator panel held telephonic hearings on Egan’s request. The Trust participated and did not object to his request. On November 5, 2021, the panel granted expungement after considering the pleadings, settlement agreement, Egan’s BrokerCheck report, his testimony, and exhibits. The panel specifically found that Egan was not involved in the alleged investment-related sales-practice violation, forgery, theft, misappropriation, or conversion of funds.

The Trust did not oppose Egan’s federal petition or summary-judgment motion and did not otherwise appear in the case.

Legal standard

The Federal Arbitration Act provides a streamlined process for confirming arbitration awards. Judicial review is limited. Ordinarily, a court must confirm an award unless a statutory basis exists to vacate, modify, or correct it, such as fraud, arbitrator bias, refusal to hear material evidence, or the arbitrator’s exceeding of authority.

Because the petition was unopposed, the court treated it like a summary-judgment motion. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute about a fact that could affect the outcome and the moving party is entitled to judgment under the law. The court still had to examine Egan’s submissions rather than automatically grant the motion because the Trust did not respond.

Court’s analysis

The court found no material factual dispute. The Trust had not challenged the material facts supporting Egan’s motion, and the record revealed no dispute about them.

The court also found that the arbitration panel’s reasons were sufficiently clear. The panel had described its hearings and identified the materials it considered, including the settlement agreement, Egan’s BrokerCheck report, his testimony, and the exhibits. The court concluded that these findings provided more explanation than was required to confirm the award.

Finally, the court found no basis to set aside the award. The parties had agreed to FINRA arbitration, had been given an opportunity to participate, and had received a final award. The Trust had not challenged the award’s legal sufficiency or sought to vacate, modify, or correct it.

Ruling

Judge Katherine Polk Failla granted Egan’s motion for summary judgment on his petition to confirm the arbitration award. The court confirmed the award and granted the relief it required. FINRA was ordered to execute the panel’s expungement directive by removing all references to Arbitration Occurrence No. 2055483 from Michael Egan’s CRD records, identified as CRD No. 2124653. The Clerk was directed to terminate the pending motions, adjourn remaining dates, and close the case.