Baird wins $1.4M from Morgan Stanley, ex-broker

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. has won a $1.43 million arbitration award against Morgan Stanley and a former Baird broker.

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. has won a $1.43 million arbitration award against Morgan Stanley and a former Baird broker.
Milwaukee-based Baird alleged that three brokers “abruptly left their positions” with the firm and “delivered client records to their new employer, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, for use in solicitation of [Baird’s clients],” according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitration award.
While New York-based Morgan Stanley denied the charges in the claim, a three-member Finra arbitration panel last month ordered the firm to pay Baird $1.28 million in compensatory damages. In addition, one of the three former Baird brokers named in the suit, Larry Bluhm, was ordered to pay Baird $150,000 in damages. The arbitrators denied Baird’s claims against the two other brokers.
According to Finra records, Mr. Bluhm, who is based in Muskegon, Mich., left Baird in March 2008 to join Morgan Stanley.
A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman declined to comment.
Finra is based in New York and Washington.