Finra panel awards $212,000 to ex-client of RBC

An all-public Finra arbitration panel has awarded $212,000 to the estate of a former RBC Wealth Management client who had charged the firm with negligence and elder abuse. The client, the late Hazel Kitzman, and her attorneys charged that RBC engaged in the unauthorized sale of shares in the client's account and in the unauthorized transfer of funds from an account at another firm. The attorneys had asked for compensatory damages of at least $1.5 million, treble punitive damages and reimbursement of all legal costs, all of which the panel denied. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel also denied RBC's counterclaim, in which it asked to be reimbursed for legal costs. RBC had denied the case's allegations.