Arbitrator Dana Tait Sandlin's Dissenting Opinion, which does not reflect the views of the other arbitrators:

Charles James, III is a lifelong resident of the rural town of Sumter, SC, population 41,000, and home to a large military retirement population. He acted within his knowledge and regional culture to the best of his ability to meet the needs of his clients. He was following his training from Series 7 training, when he chose to allow continual and substantial unsolicited account withdrawals by Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Drummond in the final 2.5 years of Mr. Drummond's life. This training instructs brokers to refuse to allow investors to make investments of cash, if they are detected to have a mental deficit. It does not allow brokers to deny access to an investor's cash/IRA reserves, by an investor or long-term wife, during the final years of their lives. Mr. James testimony is that he was unaware of Mr. Drummond's dementia/Alzheimer's diagnosis in the final years of his life.

However, there was not one piece of evidence of supervision of the case files of Mr. James, III, by any supervisor of Wells Fargo. There was no testimony re: management supervision; no supervisor appeared at the hearing; and no supervisory notes were presented for over a 10 year case file history. This is a serious concern. While FINRA Regulatory Notice 15-37, Financial Exploitation of Seniors and Other Vulnerable Adults, went into effect after its comment period in November 2015, and was not in effect during Mr. Drummond's lifetime, there is still a strong presumption that cases involving older adults (and, indeed, all investors, regardless of age and medical history) need stockbroker management supervision. Management supervision has long been in effect and an internal mechanism in all brokerage houses. It is the way in which errors are caught and contained early in a file's history. No such supervision appears to be present in this case from the testimony and evidence presented.

I believe that had such supervision been in place and working properly, with supervisory comments in the case file on a regular basis, that Mr. Drummond's medical deficits might have been detected. It is a concern (although no law was broken) that no one in the firm laid eyes on Mr. Drummond in person for a 2 1/2 year period. I would suggest that all brokers would be prudent (and perhaps should be required by a new rule) to have a once a year meeting with all of their clients in person (or at least via Skype if living in different cities) especially with seniors, who might very well be exploited by any close family member. This could help in detecting health issues that are declining in nature and could require closer scrutiny through the supervisory process. It is a concern that Mr. James, III stated that he has another 324 clients and that many of those cases are retired military veterans, in their senior years. Others may have medical issues that may affect their financial judgements that are going undetected.

Investors hire Wells Fargo to help 'manage' their accounts, and they pay fees for that 'management'. If they did not want some management help, they could open an account with an online broker and make their own trades. Part of that management help includes face-to-face meetings and supervision of case files. Wells Fargo was negligent in its duty on this account.

As for the missing $525,000.00 (approximate) from the Drummond IRA accounts and Coca Cola Stock sales: this money was placed into the sole bank account of Daniel Drummond. The Bank account was under the entity of Wells Fargo Bank and they are not a party to this proceeding. Mrs. Drummond was a 20 year spouse of Mr. Drummond. She was the sole beneficiary on the IRA. She was a joint account holder on the account used to sell the stock. She cared for Mr. Drummond in the final years of his life and she took on all of the expenses for such care. No one from the family appeared on a regular daily, weekly, or monthly basis to provide familial support and care to Mr. Drummond, even though everyone knew his medical condition and knew that he was dying. While family dysfunction may be to blame for this in part, it is still a duty of a son to appear for his father in the final moments (if not months or years) of his life. Mrs. Drummond used the funds for Mr. Drummond's needs and, quite possibly, her own needs. Absent finding Mrs. Drummond (she did not appear before this panel) and finding what else, if anything she used the proceeds for, I cannot attach a finding of legal fraud, nor award damages in this matter.

[N]o one in the firm laid eyes on Mr. Drummond in person for a 2 1/2 year period. I would suggest that all brokers would be prudent (and perhaps should be required by a new rule) to have a once a year meeting with all of their clients in person (or at least via Skype if living in different cities) especially with seniors, who might very well be exploited by any close family member.