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Following his legal battle with a Florida bank, securities analyst Richard Bove decided to change employers.

Bove, a well-known and outspoken bank analyst, said Tuesday he joined Rochdale Securities LLC, the Connecticut-based institutional brokerage. In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, he said the lawsuit BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. (BBX) brought against him and his former employer Ladenburg Thalman & Co. made working there "untenable."

At Ladenburg, Bove covered banks and brokerages, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS). He was among the voices forecasting steep losses for the financial services industry.

BankAtlantic took issue with one of those reports, "Who Is Next," issued in July following the collapse of IndyMac Bancorp Inc.

Legal costs of the suit have approached $1 million, Bove said, and Ladenburg would have preferred to settle with BankAtlantic because the costs could rise to $2 million or $3 million. "I couldn't settle because settling would have me apologizing to BankAtlantic," which would essentially validate the bank's impact on equity research and analyst comments, Bove said. That could have broader implications on independent research, he said.

Lawyers have said the suit might be hard to win because it could restrict the freedom of speech.

Bove said, "The BankAtlantic suit, in my opinion, was really driven toward stopping me from speaking [publicly] and towards impacting my research, and it succeeded in doing that because we did restrain a lot of the research."

"The people at Ladenburg are unbelievable top quality and I think the firm is terrific," and he regrets leaving the firm, he said. A spokesman for Ladenburg wouldn't comment on the suit, but said, "We thank Dick Bove for his contribution to Ladenburg and wish him the best for his future endeavors."

A spokeswoman for BankAtlantic wasn't immediately available to comment. In the suit, the bank demands damages for alleged defamation and negligence from the widely distributed "Who Is Next?" report.

In assessing the health of banks, Bove advised investors to look at nonperforming assets and to beware of those banks where the ratio of such assets to total assets exceeds 5%. As a second measure, he advised dividing a bank's nonperforming assets by its loan-loss reserve plus common equity. He did not mention BankAtlantic by name in the text of his report, but it was mentioned in a table.

BankAtlantic said in its suit, "The problem is that, while Bove's report purports to consider which banks might fail, he failed to examine the health of the banks and thrifts in his report."

"Instead, he only examined holding-company data which, in at least our case, is meaningless information."

Bove said if BankAtlantic continues to pursue the suit, he will seek his own legal representation.

Dan Crowley, president of Rochdale, said in a press release, "We are really excited to have Dick, and his team, join us. Such a prominent and respected analyst, in a sector so important to the markets these days, is a tremendous addition to Rochdale's growing platform." A spokesman confirmed that the firm wouldn't pick up Bove's legal costs.

-By Matthias Rieker, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5936; matthias.rieker@dowjones.com

(Kerry E. Grace contributed to this story.)