The National Association for Fixed Annuities will appeal a U.S. District Court's decision to uphold the Department of Labor's new fiduciary rule, the group said Monday.
“We have always assumed this case would get decided by a higher court,” NAFA executive director Chip Anderson said in a statement.
On Nov. 4, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington rejected NAFA's arguments that the rule contains vague requirements for reasonable compensation and an improper right of action, among other legal points, and refused to grant a stay.
It is the first ruling among the four cases challenging the new rule, which becomes effective April 10, 2017. District Courts in Dallas, Kansas City and Minneapolis have not ruled yet.
The Kansas City plaintiff, Market Synergy Group, told the court in a letter Tuesday that Mr. Moss' decision “suffers from the apparent lack of an adequate record and analysis,” wrote its lawyer, J. Michael Vaughan of Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan.
Stephen W. Hall, legal director for Better Markets, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, in a statement called Mr. Moss' ruling “thorough, well-reasoned and clear. The message is clear: The industry's never-ending effort to undermine this long-overdue, carefully considered and well-crafted rule requiring financial advisers (to) put their clients' best interests first when giving retirement investment advice will not prevail.”
