First of America Bank-Northeast Illinois, N.A. v. Bocian

614 N.E.2d 890, 245 Ill. App. 3d 495, 185 Ill. Dec. 449, 23 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 122, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 757
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 28, 1993
DocketNo. 2-92-0663
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 614 N.E.2d 890 (First of America Bank-Northeast Illinois, N.A. v. Bocian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First of America Bank-Northeast Illinois, N.A. v. Bocian, 614 N.E.2d 890, 245 Ill. App. 3d 495, 185 Ill. Dec. 449, 23 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 122, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 757 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE WOODWARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Eric Christenson, Inc., appeals from the order of the circuit court granting summary judgment for plaintiff, First of America Bank-Northeast Illinois, N.A. (bank), and denying defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment. Defendant Christenson filed a counterclaim against Randy J. Bocian, d/b/a Zurich, Ltd. A default judgment was entered against counterdefendant Bocian, who is not a party to this appeal. The court entered a money judgment against defendant Christenson and for plaintiff in the amount of $12,334.31.

Defendant contends that it was error for the trial court to enter summary judgment against defendant as drawer of a check made out to Zurich, Ltd. (Bocian), and deposited by Bocian in the plaintiff bank. Relying on various provisions of articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, pars. 3 — 101 et seq., 4 — 101 et seq.), defendant argues that the bank is not entitled to a money judgment against him as the drawer of a check, where the check was deposited in the bank customer’s checking account which became overdrawn when the bank drew against that account to pay checks issued by the customer, and where defendant drawer had stopped payment on his check and the bank did not receive payment on the drawer’s check.

Initially, we note that, in reviewing a trial court’s entry of summary judgment, the sole function of the reviewing court is to determine whether the trial court correctly found that there were no genuine issues of material fact and, if not, whether the trial court correctly entered judgment as a matter of law based upon pleadings, depositions, admissions and affidavits on file. Guenther v. G. Grant Dickson & Sons, Inc. (1988), 170 Ill. App. 3d 538.

The facts are essentially undisputed. The record discloses that Bocian, d/b/a Zurich, Ltd., had a bank account with plaintiff. On October 8, 1990, defendant executed and delivered to Bocian a check drawn on the Bank of Waukegan and payable to Zurich in the amount of $28,800. The check represented a payment toward the construction of a pole bam on defendant’s property. Bocian (Zurich) deposited the check in his account at the plaintiff bank. As a result of an alleged breach of contract, defendant terminated his agreement with Zurich and stopped payment of the check. Between the time of Bocian’s deposit, on October 9, and the time that the bank received notice of the stop-payment order on October 12, 1990, the bank honored certain checks written by Bocian against the account amounting to $12,334.31, the amount of damages the bank sought in its motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff’s motion was supported by an affidavit of plaintiff’s compliance officer, Gwen Aquino, and documentary exhibits. According to the bank, as a result of honoring the checks, Zurich’s account became overdrawn in an amount over $13,000.

The trial court denied defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment, granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and awarded plaintiff a money judgment of $12,334.31.

On appeal, defendant points out that plaintiff had the option of granting provisional credit to its customer who deposited the check; that it could refuse to pay checks drawn on an overdrawn account; and that it could reverse that credit and seek recourse against its customer. In view of these options, defendant argues that the bank should suffer the losses, if any, resulting from its decision to honor the customer’s checks. Citing no mandatory authority (other than his own construction of the Code provisions), defendant concludes that the bank has no recourse against him as “drawer” of the check since it was not a holder in due course.

Plaintiff advances several arguments why the bank is a holder in due course (HDC) notwithstanding defendant’s stop-payment order and why plaintiff has recourse against the maker. Plaintiff relies on the provisions of the Code and an older appellate opinion (First National Bank v. Bauer Poultry Corp. (1952), 345 Ill. App. 315). Defendant has chosen to ignore the well-established authority of numerous jurisdictions concerning the bank’s status as an HDC under the Code. Although there is surprisingly little modem Illinois authority directly on point, our further research persuades us that plaintiff was an HDC and could indeed proceed against defendant as drawer of the check.

Hlinois adopted articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code in 1961 (see Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 26, pars. 3 — 101, 4 — 101 (SmithHurd 1963)). Sections 3 — 302(1) and (4) of the Code provide that an HDC is a holder who takes the instmment (a) for value; and (b) in good faith; and (c) without notice that it is overdue or has been dishonored or of any defense against or claim to it on the part of any person; a purchaser of a limited interest can be a holder in due course only to the extent of the interest purchased. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, pars. 3 — 302(1), (4).) If the bank was an HDC as a result of the deposit of the check and the subsequent credit applied and advances made, it took the check free from all defenses of any party to the instrument with whom the holder has not dealt except those real defenses enumerated in section 3 — 305 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, par. 3 — 305). The enumerated defenses include: infancy, incapacity, duress, illegality, misrepresentation, or discharge in insolvency or other discharge of which the holder has notice when he takes the instmment. (See Peoria Savings & Loan Association v. Jefferson Trust & Savings Bank (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 461, 467.) Defendant has not asserted any of these defenses, and any other personal defenses are of no avail to defendant if the bank was an HDC. See Washington Bank & Trust Co. v. Landis Corp. T/A Sofroney Realtors (1983), 112 Ill. App. 3d 182,185.

Section 4 — 208 of the Code provides in pertinent part:
“A bank has a security interest in an item and any accompanying documents or the proceeds of either
(a) in case of an item deposited in an account to the extent to which credit given for the item has been withdrawn or applied; [or]
(c) if it makes an advance on or against the item.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, par. 4 — 208.)

Additionally, a bank has given “value” for purposes of determining its status as an HDC “to the extent that it has a security interest in an item.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, par. 4 — 209.

Notwithstanding the drawer’s stop-payment order, we hold that the bank is an HDC because it took the check for value and without notice of any infirmity in the check (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, pars. 3 — 303, 4 — 209) and the bank had a security interest in the item deposited to the extent that it applied or withdrew credit for it or made advances against the deposited check (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 26, par. 4 — 208). There is no contention that the bank did not take the check in good faith or with notice of the stop-payment order. The bank took the instrument for “value” because it extended credit, even though provisional, in reliance on the deposited check or allowed its depositor to make withdrawals against the uncollected funds; the bank acquired a security interest in the instrument.

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614 N.E.2d 890, 245 Ill. App. 3d 495, 185 Ill. Dec. 449, 23 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 122, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-of-america-bank-northeast-illinois-na-v-bocian-illappct-1993.