UPDATE: This lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff Bruce Martin on April 10, 2023, under a settlement and stipulation of dismissal, according to Cook County Circuit Court records. Any terms of settlement were not disclosed, but both parties were to bear their own costs associated with the suit, according to the stipulation of dismissal.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE, PUBLISHED MAY 19, 2022: A Chicago Chase Bank executive has filed a defamation lawsuit against a former colleague, saying she sent letters to community housing advocacy organizations in Chicago, allegedly falsely accusing him of racism and other improper behaviors.
On May 10, Bruce Martin filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against defendant Michelle Kennedy.
Martin is represented in the action by attorneys Steven P. Rouse and Craig K. Kaplin, of the firm of Molzahn, Reed & Rouse, of Chicago.
According to the lawsuit, Martin, of Oak Park, and Kennedy, identified as a resident of Matteson, had both been employed in the Community Development Banking Division at JPMorgan Chase Bank.
The complaint does not identify the titles held by either Martin or Kennedy.
However, according to online profiles, Martin is identified as an executive within the Community Development Banking Division at Chase. According to Chase’s site, the Community Development Banking Division carries a mission of “expanding access to capital” by “providing loans, investments and services for low- and moderate-income households and communities across the U.S.”
According to the complaint, Kennedy no longer works for Chase Bank.
According to the lawsuit, in 2020 and again in 2021, Kennedy allegedly sent letters to affordable housing and community development advocacy organizations in Chicago, leveling accusations of “racist, lewd, and intimidating conduct” against Martin.
The letters also allegedly accused “Chase Bank and its employees of racist conduct for not employing and promoting sufficient people of color in the workplace.”
According to the complaint, the letters were sent in 2020 to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS) and the Chicago Community Loan Fund.
Similar letters were sent in 2021 to the Housing Opportunities & Maintenance for the Elderly (HOME), of Chicago, and Community Housing Capital, based in Atlanta.
Further, the complaint asserts CHC is a client of Chase’s Community Development Banking Division, and “a number of its board members are prominent in the community development field,” who know Martin.
According to the complaint, Martin serves on the board of directors for at least three of the organizations, including NHS, HOME and CHC.
The complaint does not include any specific excerpts from the alleged defamatory letters. However, the complaint says the letters accused Martin had been “racist, sexist, and otherwise inappropriate in a professional setting toward the female employees of Chase Bank;” had “harassed, bullied, abused, and sexually assaulted the female employees of Chase Bank;” had “sabotaged the career prospects of female employees of Chase Bank who rejected his alleged advances;” and called for Martin to “be punished, disciplined, or otherwise removed from employment at Chase Bank and/or as a board member of HOME, CHC, and NHS.”
However, the complaint says Chase Bank investigated the accusations and “no wrongdoing as described therein was discovered.”
The complaint says all of the claims in the letters were false, and were published “with reckless disregard for the truth because Defendant (Kennedy) knowing the statements in the letter were not true, still sent the letter.”
Kennedy allegedly “intended to malign (Martin) individually and in his profession within the banking community generally by maliciously creating and distributing the untrue 2020 Letter and 2021 Letter,” Martin said in his complaint.
In the complaint, Martin is asking a court to order Kennedy to pay him more than $250,000 for punitive and exemplary damages, as well as other damages.