SARASOTA, Fla.– LAWFUEL – The Law Firm Newswire –Phillip Wasserman and Phillip Roy Financial Services, one of the nation’s leading sellers of annuities and life insurance, have filed suit against Ft. Lauderdale based attorney John Hargrove and the firm of Gordon, Hargrove and James alleging malicious prosecution and other claims for relief. Phillip Wasserman and Phillip Roy Financial Services allege that Hargrove and his firm engaged in a scheme to defraud the courts by alleging that multi-millionaire retirees are not of sound mind to purchase annuities but yet are of sound mind to contract with them as attorneys. Wasserman and his firm also allege that Hargrove and his firm have filed dozens of similar cases in Florida courts as part of an overall scheme of coercion and have misrepresented their clients’ mental health in order to recover attorney’s fees.

The suit comes from a case where Stanley and Eleanor Weisman, multi-millionaires, sued Allianz Life Insurance Company over a purchase of an annuity. Wasserman was named as a defendant because he owned the Phillip Roy Financial Services firm, even though the sale was made by an independent sales representative.

The Weismans, who are also defendants in the suit against Hargrove, dismissed the suit against Wasserman and Phillip Roy Financial Services after Wasserman provided Hargrove and his firm with 30 days notice to dismiss their lawsuit or be subject to sanctions and money damages for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

“Our position is that John Hargrove runs television ads to entice potential clients and then makes false allegations to collect attorney fees,” said Phillip Wasserman in a released statement.

“He then makes derogatory allegations to the press about financial services firms, all the while simultaneously alleging the public is a `vulnerable adult’ incapable of understanding contractual relationships with anyone but himself and his firm. I look forward to a jury verdict that will expose his wrongdoing.”