DAK Financial Group files defamation lawsuit

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL, LACONIA DAILY SUN

MEREDITH — A Gilford man who carried a sign critical of DAK Financial outside the Meredith firm’s sales seminars is being sued for libel.

David and Lorraine Kutcher filed a defamation lawsuit against Timothy Sullivan, who allegedly carried signs announcing “I got whacked by DAK” in reference to his purchase of an annuity contract through the financial services firm.

David Kutcher is founder and president of the firm, established in 1992, and the lawsuit filed in Belknap County Superior Court alleges that Sullivan’s appearance outside two of the company’s recruitment events dampened the success of those seminars and diminished the company’s revenues as a result.

Court documents reveal that Sullivan had purchased a $25,000 annuity contract after attending a DAK seminar in the early 2000s. The plaintiffs state that the contract “performed as advertised” but, during a DAK dinner at the Canoe Restaurant in Center Harbor last June, Sullivan appeared outside the establishment with his sign bearing the DAK logo. He repeated the protest later that month at a dinner event at Faro Italian Grille in The Weirs.

Those appearances caused clients, business colleagues, and others to ask, “What happened?” and why, according to the complaint, which charged that the action was “clearly offered to the public to discourage the public’s use of DAK’s services and products... and to suggest that DAK and its staff was guilty of some crime, some malpractice or other abuse of client trust. As such, the Defendant’s conduct is libelous per se.”

In addition to alleging defamation and libel, the Kutchers charge “intentional interference with the commercial associates, clients, and relationships” as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and they seek enhanced compensatory damages for conduct that is “wanton, malicious, or oppressive, and are born of an evil motive.”

The suit also seeks attorney’s fees and injunctive relief to prevent Sullivan from “further uttering or publishing defamatory statements concerning the Plaintiffs.”

Attorney James Lafrance, who is representing Sullivan, said, “There are two sides to the story,” and he intends to file a response with the court by the end of the month.

“The answer will show that there’s kind of a running feud between the parties, and the reference on his sign to ‘getting whacked’ was in reference to being sold a very poor investment product,” Lafrance said. “Mr. Sullivan asked repeated times to be taken off the mailing list, and that continues not to happen. Every time he gets a mailing, he feels it’s a jab at him about how he got taken on something. There are basic First Amendment rights involved as well.”

Lafrance said, “I don’t know exactly where the claim is going, but we’ll certainly file an answer.”

He said he agreed to accept the service of the complaint on behalf of Sullivan and, “There’s been communications back and forth between plaintiff’s counsel and defendant’s counsel, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Robert McDaniel, representing the plaintiffs, said, “It’s a clear case of liability.” But, while the complaint asks for a jury trial, he said, “Most such cases do not wind up going to a full-scale jury trial, and it should resolve itself prior to that.”