Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd. v. Wells Fargo and Company

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedJanuary 21, 2021
Docket2:19-cv-07698
StatusUnknown

This text of Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd. v. Wells Fargo and Company (Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd. v. Wells Fargo and Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd. v. Wells Fargo and Company, (C.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

O 1

2 3 4 5 6 7

8 United States District Court 9 Central District of California

11 GRAND BAYMAN BELIZE, LTD., Case № 2:19-cv-07698 ODW (RAOx)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR

13 v. SUMMARY JUDGMENT [17]

14 WELLS FARGO & COMPANY et al.,

15 Defendants.

16 17 I. INTRODUCTION 18 Before the Court is Defendant Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.’s (sued as Wells Fargo 19 & Company) motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd.’s 20 claim for wrongful payment of a wire transfer. (Mot. for Summ. J. (“Mot.”) 4, ECF 21 No. 17.) For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS the Motion.1 22 II. BACKGROUND 23 On or about October 1, 2018, Grand Bayman received a fraudulent email, 24 purportedly an invoice from one of its vendors, RAD Architecture, Inc. (Notice of 25 Removal Ex. A (“Compl.”) ¶ 5, ECF No. 1-1.) The email directed Grand Bayman to 26 wire $226,991.45 to a Wells Fargo account ending in x3420 (“Account x3420”). (Id.) 27

28 1 Having carefully reviewed the papers filed in connection with the Motion, the Court deemed the matter appropriate for decision without oral argument. Fed. R. Civ. P. 78; C.D. Cal. L.R. 7-15. 1 On October 2, 2018, in accordance with the email, Grand Bayman issued a payment 2 order to its bank to transfer the requested amount to Account x3420 (the “Wire 3 Transfer”). (Id. ¶ 7; Decl. Stephen D. Rothschild ¶ 7, Ex. 5, ECF No. 26 (“Payment 4 Order”).) 5 On October 5, 2018, Wells Fargo received the Wire Transfer, which identified 6 the beneficiary as Wells Fargo Account x3420, RAD Architecture, Inc., located in 7 Miami, Florida. (Wells Fargo’s Statement of Uncontroverted Facts (“SUF”) 1–2, 8 ECF No. 17-3;2 see also Decl. of Michelle Swirtz (“Swirtz Decl.”) Ex. 1, at WF 0019, 9 ECF No. 17-2 (“Wire Details”); Payment Order.) Within seven seconds of receipt, 10 Wells Fargo’s Money Transfer System (“MTS”) processed the Wire Transfer and 11 credited beneficiary Account x3420 with $226,991.45. (SUF 4–8.) By October 17, 12 2018, the funds had been withdrawn and Account x3420 closed. (SUF 10.) On 13 November 1, 2018, Wells Fargo received a message from Grand Bayman’s bank 14 requesting that the funds be returned. (SUF 11.) 15 On May 23, 2019, Grand Bayman initiated this action to retrieve the transferred 16 funds, apparently based on California Commercial Code section 11207(a).3 (See 17 Compl. ¶¶ 10, 14.) Wells Fargo now moves for summary judgment, arguing that it 18 falls under the safe harbor of section 11207(b)(1) because it processed the transfer 19 automatically (i.e., without human intervention), based on the account number alone, 20

21 2 Grand Bayman nominally disputes SUF 2, asserting that the Wire Transfer identified RAD 22 Architecture in Florida as the intended beneficiary. (See Grand Bayman’s Statement of Genuine Disputes (“SGD”) 2, ECF No. 27.) However, Grand Bayman’s “disputed fact” is not inconsistent 23 with Wells Fargo’s SUF 2, and the evidence to which Grand Bayman points supports the truth of Wells Fargo’s SUF 2. Accordingly, the Court finds SUF 2 undisputed. 24 3 Grand Bayman does not specify in its complaint the law on which it bases its claim. (See generally 25 Compl. (citing no law).) In the briefs, the parties assume the action falls within the ambit of the California Uniform Commercial Code, Division 11. (See Mot. 4; Opp’n 3–10 (asserting sections 26 11207(a), 11209, 11302(a), and 11303(c)).) As discussed further, infra, Division 11 of the California Uniform Commercial Code governs Grand Bayman’s sole claim, which concerns an unauthorized 27 wire funds transfer. See Zengen, Inc. v. Comerica Bank, 41 Cal. 4th 239, 249, 255 (2007); Chino 28 Com. Bank, N.A. v. Peters, 190 Cal. App. 4th 1163, 1172 (2010). All code section references in this Order are to the California Commercial Code unless otherwise noted. 1 and thus had no actual knowledge of a mismatch between the beneficiary account 2 number and name. (Mot. 4.) 3 Grand Bayman purports to dispute that Wells Fargo processed the Wire 4 Transfer automatically. (SGD 3; Opp’n 8–9, ECF No. 26.) However, the parties do 5 not dispute that Wells Fargo’s automated MTS confirmed Account x3420 was a Wells 6 Fargo account and passed an external screening before the MTS credited Account 7 x3420. (SGD 4–8.) The parties also do not dispute that the entire transfer process 8 lasted only seven seconds. (See id.) Nevertheless, Grand Bayman contends that 9 Wells Fargo does not fall within the safe harbor because it had actual knowledge of 10 the mismatch between the beneficiary’s account number and name when it processed 11 the Wire Transfer. (SGD 9, 11; Opp’n 8–9.) 12 III. LEGAL STANDARD 13 A court “shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no 14 genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a 15 matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The burden of establishing the absence of a 16 genuine issue of material fact lies with the moving party, see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 17 477 U.S. 317, 322–23 (1986), and the court must view the facts and draw reasonable 18 inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Scott v. Harris, 550 19 U.S. 372, 378 (2007). A disputed fact is “material” where the resolution of that fact 20 might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law, and the dispute is 21 “genuine” where “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for 22 the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). 23 Conclusory or speculative testimony in affidavits is insufficient to raise genuine issues 24 of fact and defeat summary judgment. Thornhill Publ’g Co. v. GTE Corp., 594 F.2d 25 730, 738 (9th Cir. 1979). Moreover, though the Court may not weigh conflicting 26 evidence or make credibility determinations, there must be more than a mere scintilla 27 of contradictory evidence to survive summary judgment. Addisu v. Fred Meyer, Inc., 28 198 F.3d 1130, 1134 (9th Cir. 2000). 1 Once the moving party satisfies its burden, the nonmoving party cannot simply 2 rest on the pleadings or argue that any disagreement or “metaphysical doubt” about a 3 material issue of fact precludes summary judgment. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. 4 v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986); see Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322–23. 5 Nor will uncorroborated allegations and “self-serving testimony” create a genuine 6 issue of material fact. Villiarimo v. Aloha Island Air, Inc., 281 F.3d 1054, 1061 (9th 7 Cir. 2002). The court should grant summary judgment against a party who fails to 8 demonstrate facts sufficient to establish an element essential to the case when that 9 party will ultimately bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322. 10 Pursuant to the Local Rules, parties moving for summary judgment must file a 11 proposed “Statement of Uncontroverted Facts and Conclusions of Law” that should 12 set out “the material facts as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine 13 dispute.” C.D. Cal. L.R. 56-1.

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Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
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Grand Bayman Belize, Ltd. v. Wells Fargo and Company, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grand-bayman-belize-ltd-v-wells-fargo-and-company-cacd-2021.