Software Error Blamed for $308,000 Stock Loss

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (CN) - A Millennium Trust software error cost a financial adviser $308,000 by confusing the number of dollars the adviser want to buy for its customers with the number of shares, the adviser claims in court.

W. Wall and Company a certified financial adviser in Asheville, sued Millennium Trust Company in Buncombe County Court.

Millennium was custodian of the customer accounts that Wall managed, and to manage them Wall had to use a Millennium software program, Wall claims in the lawsuit.

Millennium changed its software platform in late 2010 and early 2011, from Portfolio Online to the MTC Advisor View System. But Millennium (MTC) provided Wall with only one hour of training, by telephone, and a "limited user guide," which forced Wall to call Millennium repeatedly for help, according to the complaint.

Wall claims that after these repeated problems, Millennium told it to use an "Order Bulk Cancel functionality" part of the system to cancel "pre-loaded" trades in bulk, rather than individually, particularly during the last minutes of the trading day.

Wall said it did that, but on Oct. 16, 2013, the Order Bulk Cancel "misaligned information on its report, sowing what should have been dollar amounts as instead the number of shares to be purchased."

This caused Wall to buy "a grossly amount of stocks," in an order placed at 3:54 p.m. which was executed at closing, 6 minutes later, Wall says.

Wall says it canceled that order at 3:59, but it was too late. The trade cost it $308,640.07, Wall says in the complaint.

It claims that "MTC admitted the error in its platform and software, [but] MTC refused to pay for the losses occasioned by the error."

Millennium told Wall that it would "distribute the loss to Wall's customers," unless Wall immediately paid Millennium the $308,640.07.

Wall says it ate the loss, which was Millennium's fault.

It wants the money back, and damages and punitive damages for negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Wall is represented by J. Patrick Haywood with Carruthers & Roth, of Greensboro, N.C.

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