JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) is being sued by a trader who says he accepted a contract from the investment bank because a typographical error made him believe he would be paid 10 times what was actually offered.This is pretty hilarious. Do you think he'll win the case? Would you do the same?Kai Herbert, a Switzerland-based currency trader, is suing JPMorgan for about 580,000 pounds ($920,000), his lawyers said at a trial in London this week. The original contract said Herbert’s annual pay would be 24 million rand ($3.1 million). JPMorgan blamed the mistake on a typographical error and said the figure should have been 2.4 million rand, according to court documents.
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He'll get a nice settlement, leverage up his settlement and play currencies from his basement.
Scum... I'd kill for that job...
Why is he scum? It's JPM's fault, and he's suing for less than half of the difference between 2.4M rand and 24M rand. To be fair, he probably should have reacted differently than not showing up for work, but it's JPM's fuck up.
Lol... why are they using Rand anyway?
Herbert resigned from UBS AG (UBSN) in June 2010 following the offer from JPMorgan to relocate to Johannesburg.
JPM will pay him the money to shut up and go away. The last thing any of the BB's need is another publicity stunt / PR nightmare
absolutely unreasonable that a person deserving around 300k would honestly believe he deserves to get paid $3.1 million. JPM will take him to court as this is Law 101 type stuff and file a counter-suit that will force him to pay their lawyer fees on top of getting fired.
This assumes that a judge will even hear the case
It's already in front of a Judge so shyhhhh
“That must have been the moment your heart sank,” Judge Henry Globe said at the trial this week, referring to when Herbert discovered the mistake. Herbert resigned from UBS AG (UBSN) in June 2010 following the offer from JPMorgan to relocate to Johannesburg."
Did you take business law and study contract?
"if the trader signed the contract in good faith it is probably binding. JPMorgan will have to prove he knew there was a mistake in the contract but signed it anyway.” Adrian Crawford, an employment lawyer at Kingsley Napley LLP in London who isn’t involved in the case, said in a phone interview.
It's already in front of a Judge so shyhhhh
“That must have been the moment your heart sank,” Judge Henry Globe said at the trial this week, referring to when Herbert discovered the mistake. Herbert resigned from UBS AG (UBSN) in June 2010 following the offer from JPMorgan to relocate to Johannesburg."
Did you take business law and study contract?
"if the trader signed the contract in good faith it is probably binding. JPMorgan will have to prove he knew there was a mistake in the contract but signed it anyway.” Adrian Crawford, an employment lawyer at Kingsley Napley LLP in London who isn’t involved in the case, said in a phone interview.
Sorry, double post.
JPM would be the first to fire him if he made such a typo on a trade...He should get paid every penny of the original contract
Listen to him kid:
Because HR people who pose no risk to the firm are held to the same standard as traders who are given millions to monitor/invest/sell in the financial markets everyday.
What does deserve have to do with anything? He should settle for some arbitrary amount and not what the contract says? Screw JPM, I'd sue for the full amount including damages for wasting my time -- guy has to find a new job now and has his name smeared all over the internet as some kind of pain in the ass when all he did was sign the contract put in front of him.
lol, good one
He'll never win. Although it was a fault by JPM, no reasonable person would be convinced that he/she would get paid that much.
Anyways, very interesting and a good try!
Then why even have contracts? The actual amount on the contract is pretty arbitrary. It could have 24 billion rand. The point is, JPM created the contract, they both read, and they both signed it. It's not his fault that JPM can't get their shit together. I hope he gets the full amount -- he "deserves" nothing less.
It always amazes me how people usually take legality for morality and vice versa.
JP Morgan is a piece of shit bank.
True, Morgan Stanley is #1!
I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit! I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.
THIS IS NOT A MUNDANE LITTLE DETAIL MICHAEL!!!!!
To answer the question. This is very simple. In a contract matter, the contract is always construed to be in favor of the non-authoring party. So, if JPM writes the contract and they fuck up with a typo, then they are held liable for the amount in the typo. It's a basic rule of contract law. The guy deserves his 24MM Rand. That's the end of story. I hope the courts award him this money and teach JPM a lesson on shoddy contract writing skills.
100% correct. He signed it in good faith
JPM had authority in that case
Contract is bidding.
It's not about how much he should earn for the position that he got.
It's all about contract law
He did not sign it in good faith. That's the whole point. You just don't get offered 10x a normal salary out of the blue and not go back to HR and ask clarifying questions. A reasonable person would have ask for more information as to the type of work and justification for a $3.1 million salary unless they were a complete narcissist and believed they were entitled to such a thing.
This. It's not even a discussion point. That's why it's called contract law.
Trader lost, JPMorgan won.
Horseshit
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20120326/FREE/120329941
Usually contract signing is the last thing you do after a long interview process, where you negotiate the terms of the contract you are going to sign. Big surprise for this trader, either way, right?
But good for him if he caught JPM with their pants down!
What you guys keep missing is the fact that he didn't show up for work. JPM agreed to pay him 3.1MM to do the job. If he doesn't show up for work because he finds out they actually meant 310K, then they don't owe him shit. If instead he went to work and after a year, his total comp was 310K, he could have sued JPM then.
How many days of work should he miss to void the contract?
This thing has so much subtleties.
Firstly, it was clearly a case of unilateral mistake, which would lead to the contract being voidable, or resolved in equity. Of course JP Morgan won that one.
The Trader would have been put on notice, because the standard is based on that of a reasonable person, and clearly being offered 10x a reasonable salary is one which would be apparent to a reasonable person.
It's simple logic to any student who's passed contract law. Don't know how a lawyer didn't explain that to the client, and it got before a judge, to me that could be seen to be professional negligence on his (the lawyer's) part.
Plus the trader failed to mitigate his losses.
Sorry!
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