Jury Slaps JPMorgan Chase with $6 Billion-Plus Verdict in Sabre Creator’s Estate
A jury has awarded the widow and heirs of Sabre airline reservation system pioneer Max D. Hopper more than $6 billion in damages after finding JPMorgan Chase in breach of its fiduciary duty in administering the multimillion-dollar Hopper estate.
“JPMorgan Chase is one of the world’s largest and most respected banks, and its clients expect honesty and fairness in the handling of trusts and estates,” said James S. Bell of James S. Bell, PC, trial lawyer for Hopper’s adult children, Dr. Stephen Hopper, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, psychiatrist, and Laura Wassmer, mayor of Prairie Village, Kansas.
“In this case, the JPMorgan Chase name doesn’t mean the institution put its clients’ interests above its own. When challenged, the bank used the family’s own money to fight them in court over the handling of their father’s estate,” said Bell.
Hopper, who helped create the Sabre reservations system, died unexpectedly in 2010 without a valid will. At the time of his death, his estate was estimated at more than $19 million.