Lawsuit seeks tens of millions in commissions related to billions in annuities
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Federal class action lawsuit was filed today against Ohio National Financial Services, Inc. ("Ohio National") by Veritas Independent Partners ("Veritas"), an independent broker-dealer based in Conway, Arkansas. The suit is the first to seek class action status for thousands of broker-dealers nationwide who had previously sold annuities for Ohio National and who were informed recently that the company would no longer pay commissions under its selling agreements with the broker-dealers.
Veritas, which had sold annuity contracts offered by Ohio National to many of its clients, alleges in the lawsuit that Ohio National decided that it was in its best interest to exit as many existing annuity contracts as possible because they had become unprofitable for the company. However, because many clients decided to continue holding the annuity contracts, Ohio National decided to eliminate paying ongoing commission obligations to the class of broker-dealers who had previously sold the annuity contracts irrespective of the company's existing contractual obligations.
The suit alleges that Ohio National held $23.6 billion in annuities under management at the end of 2017 and that thousands of broker-dealers may be owed commissions totaling in the tens of millions of dollars under the contracts that Veritas is seeking to hold Ohio National to for itself and other broker-dealers in the class.
The case was filed in the Southern District of Ohio and has been assigned to Judge Michael R. Barrett. Veritas and the putative class of broker-dealers are represented in the case by Murray Murphy Moul + Basil LLP (“MMMB”), a Columbus, Ohio law firm with extensive experience in complex litigation and securities class actions.
MMMB is a member of the Ohio Attorney General’s securities litigation panel and which has advised Ohio’s pension funds under the administrations of five different Ohio Attorneys General. The firm was most recently successful in helping secure one of the largest insider trading settlements in history, representing Ohio STRS in the $250 million settlement of the case of Basile, et al. v. Valeant Pharmaceutical International, Inc., et al. (C.D. Cal. 2018).
Media Contact:
Geoffrey J. Moul
614.599.0403
moul@mmmb.com