Edelman Financial Engines To Appeal Decision in Mariner Lawsuit

Edelman Financial Engines To Appeal Decision in Mariner Lawsuit The wealth management firm is taking its case to a federal appeals court after a judge ruled that Edelman hadn't established its trade-secrets case against Mariner. Edelman Financial Engines is appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit against Mariner Wealth Advisors, intending to bring the case to the federal appeals court. Edelman Financial Engines’ attorneys on Thursday filed that they intended to appeal the case to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the judgment by Kansas Federal Court Judge Holly Teeter in early June (the Tenth Circuit hears appeals from federal courts in Colorado, New Mexico, much of Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming, in addition to Kansas). In a statement, an Edelman spokesperson said they "remain confident in the merits" of the case. “Our focus remains on protecting the trusted client relationships we have built over the past four decades and the long-term interests of our clients, our planners, and our business,” the spokesperson said. Edelman first sued Mariner in 2023, alleging that the latter firm encouraged Edelman advisors to breach their non-solicitation agreements and trade secret obligations (including client information) when moving from one firm to the other. Mariner accused Edelman of trying to strong-arm competitors through lawsuits to send a “chilling public message.” During the course of the case, Edelman accused Mariner CEO Marty Bicknell of personally trying to sway Edelman advisor Michael Horne to join the firm (he eventually did in June 2021). In depositions, Bicknell acknowledged speaking to Horne before he’d been hired. In 2025, both firms filed motions to exclude the opposing side’s testimony and motions for summary judgment (in which a judge rules on a case before it goes to a jury; Mariner’s attempt was successful). The trial was also going to be delayed due to World Cup soccer matches being played in Kansas City, though this became moot with Teeter’s ruling last month. In her ruling, Teeter found that Edelman didn’t establish that partial client lists taken by Edelman planners to Mariner qualified as trade secrets, nor that Mariner advised its hires to bring client data illegally, or that the planners brought more than their memories of client names (which doesn’t rise to the level of a protected trade secret). Teeter also took Edelman’s legal team to task for improper briefing tasks, including failing to provide citations and even misrepresenting or modifying evidence to bolster Edelman’s case. Teeter wrote that neither problem was a “one-off” and appeared through the briefing, “to the point that the court cannot excuse them.” Representatives from Mariner declined to comment.