NAIFA along with the American Council of Life Insurers and other advocacy partners recently notched a major win in our lawsuit opposing the Department of Labor’s fiduciary-only rule. As we shared with you last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a stay in the lawsuit that prevents the DOL rule from going into effect September 23.

This is huge. Not only did the court grant our stay but it stated that “plaintiffs are virtually certain to succeed on the merits.” Furthermore, the court acknowledged our argument that the current DOL rule “falters in the same way as the 2016 [DOL] Rule” that a federal court vacated after NAIFA and ACLI brought a previous lawsuit.

NAIFA’s Impact

NAIFA and our members have been vitally important in getting this favorable result. The Court’s ruling directly cites declarations submitted by long-time NAIFA members Doug Massey, LUTCF, FSS, CLU, ChFC, Lesley Pinckard, CLU, LUTCF, FSS, and Danny Fisher, CLU, ChFC. Their sworn statements, three of only four by practicing insurance professionals submitted to the court, were crucial to establishing that the fiduciary-only rule would impose irreparable harm on financial professionals and their clients. The court cited their statements no fewer than five times in the 17-page decision.

The ruling further cites a declaration made by NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux, CAE, and comment letters NAIFA submitted to DOL. The court includes data from a survey of NAIFA members in the decision.

We owe gratitude to NAIFA-Texas, NAIFA-Fort Worth, NAIFA-Dallas, and NAIFA-Pineywoods of East Texas, each of which is a named plaintiff in the case. The participation of NAIFA chapters successfully ensured that our coalition of plaintiffs has standing in the appropriate Texas federal courts. Only NAIFA could do this.

What Comes Next?

The legal challenge is not over, and NAIFA remains on the case. We are committed to protecting insurance and financial professionals and the consumers you serve. We are also committed to keeping you informed. We have scheduled a webinar, “Conversation About the Courts,” that will feature a panel of experts discussing NAIFA’s current lawsuit as well as recent legal decisions impacting the financial services industry. The webinar, August 8 at 12 pm eastern, is open to all industry professionals.