Wells Fargo Hit With Massive Damage Award For Trust Breach

May 15, 2015

A St. Louis jury has awarded $77 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Barbara Morriss for Wells Fargo’s role in helping her son use the trust to fund his investment racket. This has been a high profile case for the city as Mrs. Morriss’s late husband was a well known businessman and has seen testimony from individuals such as former U.S. Senator John Danforth. The size of the award blows past the previous record of $45 million awarded in a corporate negligence suit in 2011 and ranks as the highest in the history of the county. As with all awards of this size, it appears that Wells Fargo will seek an appeal in the near future.

See Lisa Brown, Jury Sides Against Wells Fargo, Awards St. Louis County Woman $77 Million, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 12, 2015.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

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Current Events, Estate Administration and Trusts