Bank Took Advantage of Fluor Just Before He Died, Widow’s Suit Says

The widow of millionaire industrialist J. Robert Fluor asked for almost $50 million in punitive damages Wednesday from a bank that she claimed mishandled her late husband’s finances.

Attorneys for Lillian B. Fluor alleged that officials of California Canadian Bank, now Canadian Imperial Bank, took advantage of Fluor’s failing health shortly before his death in September, 1983.

The bank induced the Fluors to sign notes for more than $9 million, although the couple received no more than $50,000 from the transactions, the lawsuit alleges.

The notes were signed one month before the Orange County industrialist’s death from cancer, when he was “in great pain from his disease and undergoing chemotherapy,” papers filed in Orange County Superior Court allege.

Lillian Fluor, “a lady not knowledgeable or experienced in business matters, was extremely emotionally upset at the time,” according to her attorneys.

At the time, the bank was co-trustee with Lillian Fluor of a trust set up by her husband.

The net result of the action was to leave the widow with the obligation to pay the bank more than $14 million for a debt of only $10 million, according to Fluor lawyers.

Bank officials allegedly used Fluor property to their own benefit, at one point allegedly transferring $4.4 million in death benefits from retirement and savings plans payable to Lillian Fluor to its own accounts, according to the court papers.

Bank officials could not be reached for comment. Fluor attorney Thomas McMahan also declined to comment.

The allegations Wednesday are part of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the bank, claiming $6 million in unpaid debts from the Fluor estate.