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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND PAMELA ONUSKO : Plaintiff : v. : JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, NA. : Defendants : o0o MEMORANDUM Civil Case No. L-09-1080

Plaintiff, Pamela Onusko, brings this action against her former employer, JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA ("Chase"), advancing claims of fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and deceit. Now pending is Chase's Motion for Summary Judgment. Docket No. 49. The issues have been comprehensively briefed, and on July 15, 2011 the Court heard oral argument. For the reasons stated herein, the Court will, by separate Order, GRANT the Motion.

I.

BACKGROUND The following facts are set forth in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. In 2006, the

subprime mortgage market was in full swing. Pamela Onusko was employed by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage ("Wells Fargo") as a subprime division manager, where she headed a team of 350 employees responsible for over one billion dollars in sales. The position was lucrative; Onusko's total annual compensation ranged from $650,000 to $800,000. Jim McCraw and Desmond Smith are former Wells Fargo employees. In 2004, Smith

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left Wells Fargo to become Chase's senior vice president for business development, and in 2005 he was also put in charge of Chase's subprime mortgage unit. Smith offered McCraw, who was still at Wells Fargo, the position of national sales manager. McCraw accepted and joined Chase as well. The two then began to craft a strategy to expand Chase's subprime division. They settled on a goal of quadrupling Chase's subprime sales volume, then at $800M to $900M per year, and increasing the sales force from 200 people to 800. As part of their plan, they would attempt to draw loan officers and managers from other firms in the industry. McCraw would be largely in charge of the recruiting efforts, but Smith would get involved in the case of "top producers." During 2006 they hired a large number of people, several of whom came from Wells Fargo. Onusko had reported indirectly to McCraw when both were at Wells Fargo, and after McCraw left for Chase the two kept in touch. In the spring of 2006, McCraw began to actively recruit Onusko. He told her that Chase was committed to rapidly growing its subprime mortgage unit. McCraw further promised Onusko that she would head up the mid-Atlantic division, which was being held for her, that she would have the ability either to bring her team with her from Wells Fargo or to recruit and hire a team, and that her total compensation would be between $750,000 and $950,000 per year. Smith also met with Onusko, and repeated many of McCraw's assurances. He told her that "Chase was the place to be," and gave her a copy of a document entitled "Winning in NonPrime1 Retail Business Plan." See Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. Ex. 2. The plan outlined Chase's strategy to become a "Top Three Non-Prime Lender By 2009," which included significant

The parties use "non-prime" as a euphemism for what is more commonly referred to as the subprime mortgage market--that is, mortgages made at higher rates and on less favorable terms to borrowers who present a higher risk of default. 2

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growth in the company's subprime operations. Id. at 2

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