Bank loses probate verdict

A Dallas jury has issued a $4 billion verdict against JPMorgan Chase in the largest probate damage award in Texas history.

A six-person jury ruled that JPMorgan Chase negligently, fraudulently and maliciously squandered millions of dollars from the $25 million estate of longtime information technology icon Max D. Hopper, who is widely credited with bringing the major airlines’ ticketing systems into the information age.

The jury awarded nearly $5 million in actual damages and $4 billion in punitive damages to Hopper’s wife and his two children.

Hopper’s wife, Jo N. Hopper, sued JPMorgan Chase, claiming that the bank’s “lack of due diligence” and “continued failures have deprived the heirs of a full and proper distribution of the estate’s assets” since he died in 2010. Hopper’s children and legal heirs, Dr. Stephen Hopper and Laura Wassmer, joined the lawsuit against the bank.

Max Hopper worked at Fort Worth-based Ameri-

can Airlines for nearly 24 years.

“Mrs. Hopper asked the jury to send a message loud enough for JPMorgan to hear it all the way to Park Avenue in Manhattan,” said Alan Loewinsohn, lead attorney for Jo Hopper. “Hopefully, that message has been received.”

The jury heard four weeks of testimony and arguments and then deliberated for nearly five hours before awarding $1 million in actual damages and $2 billion in punitive damages to Jo Hopper and $1.8 million in actual damages and $1 billion in punitive damages to each of the children.

In a written statement, Jo Hopper said, “surviving Stage 4 lymphoma cancer was easier than dealing with this bank and its estate administration.”

JPMorgan Chase did not respond to requests for comment.

“Throughout the estate administration, the heirs asked the bank about various aspects of the estate administration, and the bank repeatedly informed the heirs that it was properly administering the estate,” Anthony Vitullo, who represents Stephen Hopper and Wassmer, stated in court documents. “It is now clear that this was false.

“The bank continues to deplete the estate assets and the heirs’ inheritance. Wholly disregarding its fiduciary duty to the heirs, the bank has held assets that undeniably belong to the heirs hostage,” said Vitullo, who is a partner at Fee, Smith, Sharp & Vitullo.

Vitullo argued that JPMorgan Chase spent $3 million of the estate’s funds to pay lawyers to handle services that the bank was contractually obliged to perform.

“The bank’s goal is clear and simple: It seeks to batter the heirs into submission with its billions of dollars in resources,” he argued.