NEW Morgan Stanley, 640 x 640, not from Bloomberg
A surgeon and his wife are suing Morgan Stanley for several million dollars, alleging tortious acts of breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence and financial elder abuse, for mismanaging his retirement account.
According to the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, Douglas and Glenna Darlin, both 68 and trustees of The 2000 Darlin Family Revocable Trust, retained Morgan Stanley about 25 years ago to set up and manage his retirement account.
Morgan Stanley "promised and advised Darlin that funds provided by him to Morgan Stanley would be appropriately managed and invested," the suit states.
For the past 25 years, "Darlin contributed approximately $2,500 per month through automatic deductions from his paycheck that were sent to Morgan Stanley to be properly managed and invested," the suit states. However, the Darlins "are informed and believe that other than 1,000 shares of Chevron stock, the remainder of the account was not properly invested."
Plaintiffs only learned recently of Morgan Stanley's "wrongful acts and omissions," according to the suit.
Morgan Stanley, which provided the Darlins with financial planning services, "failed to place Plaintiffs' funds into appropriate investments and failed to advise Plaintiffs they had mismanaged Plaintiffs' account," the suit contends.
It further states that Morgan Stanley's "wrongful conduct was a substantial factor in causing harm to Plaintiffs in an amount to be determined at trial, but those damages are currently believed to be several million dollars."
Morgan Stanley, the suit states, "took, obtained and retained Plaintiffs' money for wrongful use" when the firm overcharged fees for financial planning services; placed the couple in inappropriate investments; continued to charge fees after learning their services were in breach of their obligations and therefore retained money from the couple for inappropriate services.
Neither Morgan Stanley nor the Darlins' attorneys have responded to requests for comment.
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