CHICAGO–LawFuel – Class Actions –John Hollinger and S.C.Rabin, beneficiaries of fiduciary accounts overseen by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “Bank”), filed a Complaint in federal court here against the Bank, its parent, JPMorgan Chase & Company arising out of, among other issues, the fundamental change in the Bank’s provision of services to fiduciary account beneficiaries and the Bank’s investment of assets held in the Bank’s fiduciary accounts in its proprietary JPMorgan mutual funds, the JPMorgan Funds.
The case caption is Rabin et al v .JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., et al , Case No: 06-CV-5452 (N.D.Ill.) A copy of the Complaint may be obtained from the Court or by contacting Plaintiffs’ counsel, Richard D. Greenfield, Esq., by email at whitehatrdg@earthlink.net or Ann Miller, Esq. at am@attorneyannmiller.com
The claims in the Complaint are brought under and pursuant to §§11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933; §10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the SEC, as well as common law claims of breach of fiduciary duty. The Complaint also seek recovery of the defendants’ unjust enrichment.
The Class in this litigation consists of all beneficiaries of fiduciary accounts for which the Bank was and is corporate fiduciary during the specified Class Period, March 1, 2003 to the present. The Class includes those beneficiaries whose assets were invested by the Bank in JPMorgan Funds. As such, members of the Class include beneficiaries of trusts, estates, employee benefit plans for which the Bank or one of its predecessors is or was the Trustee, Executor, Personal Representative, Administrator, etc.
The Complaint alleges that the Bank, with the active participation of its corporate parent and their respective subsidiaries, together with the Trustees of the JPMorgan Funds, distributed various JPMorgan Funds prospectuses that misrepresented material facts and/or omitted material facts as to, among others, the conflicts of interest between and among the defendants, the expenses that would be absorbed by the beneficiaries of the affected fiduciary accounts and the failure of the Trustees of the JPMorgan Funds to seek advisory and administrative services in the best interests of the ultimate beneficiaries of the fiduciary accounts which were caused by the Bank to purchase JPMorgan Funds shares
Special Notice to Members of the Class: If you are a beneficiary of a fiduciary account that is now or was during the Class Period in the care of JPMorgan Bank or one of its predecessors, including Bank One, First National Bank of Chicago or First Chicago Bank, you may be a member of the Class in this litigation. If you purchased shares of any JPMorgan Funds mutual funds (including money market or cash reserves mutual funds) through a fiduciary account handled by the Bank or one of its predecessors, you may request that the Court appoint you as Lead Plaintiff with respect to the claims brought under the federal securities laws by May 21, 2007. A Lead Plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other members of the Class in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed Lead Plaintiff, the Court must determine that the Class member’s claims are typical of the claims of other Class members and that the Class member will adequately represent the other members of the Class. Under certain circumstances, one or more members of the Class may together serve as “Lead Plaintiff.” Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a “Lead Plaintiff.” You may retain Mr. Greenfield, Ms. Miller or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this litigation.
Mr. Greenfield has extensive experience in the prosecution of litigation involving financial issues including shareholder cases, lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions and cases brought on behalf of trust and estate beneficiaries. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. He is a graduate of Queens College, where he received a B.S. in Accounting, Cornell Law School, where he received a J.D. and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he received an M.B.A. He was first admitted to the Bar in 1967.
In July 2004, Mr. Greenfield was a guest lecturer for the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the governmental training body for bank examiners of the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve System, speaking on the subject of banks’ conflicts of interest in the performance of their fiduciary responsibilities to beneficiaries. He is also Special Advisor to the Board of The Corporate Governance Institute of Florida Atlantic University. He has also been a featured speaker in February and July 2005 at ALI-ABA programs in New Orleans and San Francisco and in Chicago in July 2006, where he spoke on the representation of beneficiaries in litigation against corporate fiduciaries. Mr. Greenfield has been a guest speaker at the 24th International Symposium on Economic Crime held in September 2006 at Cambridge University in England.
Mr. Greenfield has also served as a Director of Equimark Corporation, a $2.5 billion, New York Stock Exchange listed bank holding company (prior to its acquisition) and two of its subsidiaries, Equibank (Delaware) N.A. and Liberty Savings Bank.
Ann Miller, a member of the Bar for almost 30 years, has represented plaintiffs in a wide variety of consumer and shareholder suits, including significant litigation involving the practices of financial institutions including Mellon Bank, Citibank (South Dakota) N.A., Chase Manhattan Bank, Royal Bank of Pennsylvania and First Union Bank. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she received a B.A. and the Villanova Law School, where she received a J.D.
If you wish to obtain further information regarding this litigation or have any questions regarding a fiduciary account at the Bank, please contact Richard D. Greenfield at Greenfield & Goodman, LLC, 7426 Tour Drive, Easton, MD 21601 at (410) 745-4149 or by email at whitehatrdg@earthlink.net or Ann Miller, 834 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 at (215) 238-0468 or by email at am@attorneyannmiller.com
