Business & Finance: Plaintiff Willett

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In December, George F. Willett, banker of Norwood, Mass., sued the Boston banking firms of F. S. Moseley & Co., Killer, Peabody & Co. and Robert F. Herrick, Boston lawyer, for $15,000,000. He claimed that these had conspired to rob his onetime firm, Willett, Sears & Co., of the control of two felt companies. After the longest superior court trial on record (184 days), he got a verdict of $10,534,109.00—the largest judgment ever awarded by a court to an individual (TIME, Dec. 29). When he received news that he had won back this fortune, Mr. Willett was ill of typhoid fever. Recovered, he last week brought suit for $15,000,000 against the Chase National Bank, the Chase Securities Corporation, Manhattan, and against Eugene V. R. Thayer, President of the Bank. The complaint —50 typewritten pages—charges violation of trust, states that the Chase corporations took part in the Boston conspiracy. Mr. Willett deposited his stock in the two felt companies as collateral for a loan. He states that the conspirators juggled the terms of the loan so that the stock could not be redeemed.