Cavner, Lawing settle suit with aftereffects

Kerry Lawing agrees to settle legal battle after losing four local employees.

The dust has settled between former Springfield financial adviser Nadia Cavner and Overland Park, Kan.-based Lawing Financial Inc. But the outcome of the messy nine-month legal battle remains under wraps.

Cavner and Lawing CEO Kerry Lawing settled out of court, according to a joint statement released Jan. 15. The two sides say they’ve “amicably agreed to resolve their dispute in a confidential agreement.”

It was a quiet landing to a turbulent time.

Since filing a breach of contract lawsuit in April, 15 months after Lawing agreed to purchase the embattled financial adviser’s business, accusations of professional and ethical misconduct have bounced between court filings. There was Cavner’s claim Lawing acted to avoid paying their $3 million sale price and Lawing’s accusation Cavner broke the contract by undermining Lawing’s client relationships.

All of this against a backdrop of Cavner’s April 2013 guilty plea for federal interstate stalking of her daughter’s ex-boyfriend and her being disqualified from selling securities. The events made an appearance in November on Investigation Discovery’s TV show, “Momsters: When Moms Go Bad.” In August 2013, Cavner was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of limited home detention and two years of community service.

Emphasis on philanthropy
In the settlement statement, Cavner quickly turned to her philanthropic interests.

“Cavner looks forward to continuing to devote her energy to her philanthropic work that is so close to her heart and to maintaining the friendships of those whom she formerly served as clients,” it said.

Three days later, she announced a $100,000 donation to Springfield-based nonprofit Care to Learn. The gift is among the largest received since Care to Learn launched in 2007 to provide health, hunger and hygiene services to schoolchildren, said founder Doug Pitt.

Pitt said Cavner has long supported the charity, and she helped start chapters in Bradleyville and Hartville.

Cavner said she and her husband, Howard, believe in Care to Learn’s mission.

“To us, it’s a very simple concept, and it reaches the kids immediately. It’s all about kids. Through Care to Learn, children are lifted up and encouraged to learn by having their basic needs met,” Cavner said by phone Jan. 18.

She quickly declined to comment on the settlement with Lawing.

“These are two separate matters,” she said. “This is about our family.”

In other community work, Cavner said she has helped friends and former clients Ron and Melissa Herschend fund a Pride store for Bradleyville schools and launch a new store in Hartville. The stores reward students with items such as winter coats, shoes or pencils that can be purchased with points earned for good behavior and academics.

“We had the first store opening in Hartville two weeks ago,” Cavner said. “Ron and I hope to do this with many other schools.”

Other charitable efforts include donations to iPourLife’s efforts to help families get out of poverty and Convoy of Hope’s Women’s Empowerment program. In November 2014, Cavner joined a Convoy of Hope trip to Ethiopia as part of the initiative to teach women family skills.

Joe Combs, superintendent of the Bradleyville school district, said he didn’t know how long Cavner has been supporting the district, but he felt confident her efforts date back to before August 2013 when her community service kicked in. Around two years ago, he said she helped start its Pride store when she bought a double-wide trailer, stocked it and established a fund to purchase future items.

“I don’t know about her legal problems, but she’s very generous,” Combs said.

Caught in the middle
But along the way, there were a few individuals caught in the middle of this heated court case. Two of them were David Compere and Andrew Denney.

In September, Compere, then Lawing Financial’s Springfield branch manager, left the company to work at UMB Bank as a senior vice president and financial adviser.

By late October, Denney fled, too, with a pair of Lawing office employees, and on Nov. 7, he was added to the growing suit. Late action in the filings was tied to accusations Denney aided Cavner in interfering with Lawing’s client relationships, harassing its financial advisers and staff, and providing financial advice to former clients.

Compere did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Denney initially agreed to an interview but canceled after talking to his attorney, Joe Johnson of Lathrop & Gage LLP, who also declined to comment.

According to a Dec. 11 filing by Lawing Financial, Denney’s conduct went beyond merely planning to leave the company.

“He actively conspired and colluded with Cavner to take client referrals for her knowing that they were being temporarily ‘parked’ at Lawing so that she could maximize her payouts under the buy-sell agreement in exchange for her promise to back him and support him when he departed Lawing, which she actively encouraged him to do,” the filing states.

Lawing Financial said in the filing Cavner had produced text messages between her and Denney that demonstrated their cooperation while he was still with the company.

Denney allegedly texted Cavner, “It’s a damn shame I did not meet you 15 years ago. We would have taken over the world!” She purportedly replied, “You have to trust me and let me help you behind the scenes. Those that I help, I trust them to never say a word.”

In another exchange, Cavner allegedly said Denney needed to go out on his own where he could make much more money. In the filing, Lawing Financial claims Cavner told Denney he was her “chosen one.”

“You know I will back you. That is 99 percent of the battle,” she allegedly said in a text message.

“Yep. But of course now if we moved a bunch you wouldn’t get your next payout,” he responded, according to the filing.

She allegedly said that wouldn’t matter after July 16, 2015 – the date she was slated to receive a $1 million installment for her business.

The narrative is different from Denney. In his answer to Lawing’s allegations, Denney charged Lawing Financial had commenced a “scorched earth” campaign to defame and disparage his character and reputation.

Denney alleged that several times Brad Lawing – the current managing director and Springfield branch manager – and his father failed to honor compensation agreements they made with Denney, both to Cavner and non-Cavner clients.

“Denney has learned that on a number of other occasions Brad Lawing surreptitiously changed the representative codes assigned to many of Denney’s clients in order to allocate commissions to himself, even as to clients with whom Brad Lawing had little or no involvement,” the filing reads.

Lawing Financial officials say the Springfield Office employs six, including Brad Lawing.

Denney now runs his own firm, Prosperity Financial Group in the Kingsley Office Park, 1354 E. Kingsley St., Ste. C. He joined broker-dealer platform LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) in the new venture.

In a Nov. 3 article on SBJ.net, “Three local Lawing Financial employees exit to form new firm,” Denney said he left because of distractions related to the case.

“A lot of it has to do with the litigation surrounding Lawing and Nadia,” he said at the time.