Massachusetts' highest court on Wednesday heard arguments on whether to revive a state fiduciary duty rule that was central to an enforcement action securities regulators filed against the online brokerage Robinhood, Reuters reported. Lawyers for a Robinhood Markets Inc. subsidiary and Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin argued before the state's Supreme Judicial Court over the legality of a 2020 state regulation, which Robinhood has said oversteps Galvin's authority. Last year, a Superior Court judge sided with Robinhood in a lawsuit the firm filed after Galvin in December 2020 accused it of encouraging inexperienced investors to place risky trades. He argued that Robinhood violated the rule he adopted that raised the investment-advice standard for brokers and that its broker-dealer license in the state should be revoked.
