Industrial Bank of Korea v. JP Morgan

192 Misc. 2d 219, 745 N.Y.S.2d 646, 48 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1059, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 844
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedApril 22, 2002
StatusPublished

This text of 192 Misc. 2d 219 (Industrial Bank of Korea v. JP Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Industrial Bank of Korea v. JP Morgan, 192 Misc. 2d 219, 745 N.Y.S.2d 646, 48 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1059, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 844 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Carol R. Edmead, J.

Plaintiff Industrial Bank of Korea, NY Branch (Korea) moves for an order striking the answer of defendant JP Morgan and Chase Manhattan Bank (Chase) and granting it summary judgment.

[220]*220Defendant Chase cross-moves for an order granting it, on default, judgment against additional defendants on cross claims, Graceland Fashions, Inc. (Graceland) and Hanen Kris Corp. (Hanen), in the amount of any judgment recovered by plaintiff Korea against defendant Chase.

On November 22, 2000, at about 11:00 a.m., Graceland deposited a check in the sum of $23,150 in its account with defendant Chase. The check had been drawn by Hanen, who also maintained an account with defendant Chase. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday on November 23, 2000, the processing of the Hanen check was delayed one day.

On November 27, 2000, Graceland requested that defendant Chase certify a check drawn on its account. For the purpose of certifying a check, defendant Chase supplies its customer with a countercheck, which is completed as directed by the customer and is signed by the customer. The countercheck is drawn on a Chase account in Buffalo, New York, and is made payable through the New York clearing house.

As instructed by Graceland, the countercheck was made payable to Graceland. Prior to adding its certification stamp to the check, defendant Chase checked Graceland’s available balance by computer. Since the Hanen check was drawn on defendant Chase, defendant Chase made the funds available to Graceland on November 24, one business day after the deposit.

Shortly after the certified check was delivered to Graceland, defendant Chase learned that the Hanen check was being returned because Hanen had placed a stop payment on the check. In addition, the funds in Hanen’s account were insufficient to cover the check. Defendant Chase then decided to place a stop payment against the certified check.

On the same day that it received the certified check, Graceland deposited it in its account with plaintiff Korea. Since it was a certified check, plaintiff Korea made the funds available to Graceland the same day.

Plaintiff Korea claims that it was first advised that the certified check would not be paid by Chase when it received an EARNS (Electronic Advanced Return-Item Notification System) notification on November 30, 2000, at 11:57 a.m.; that prior to receiving the notice, it made payments and electronic transfers in the sum of $21,857.81 as against the certified check; and that as a holder in due course, it is entitled to payment from defendant Chase on the certified check.

Defendant Chase claims that it was the victim of a fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Graceland and Hanen, and that accordingly, it had a right to stop payment on the certified check. In addition, defendant Chase claims plaintiff Korea is not a holder in due course.

[221]*221In accordance with UCC 3-411 (1), a bank that certifies a check, accepts it and becomes legally bound to pay the check to one rightfully entitled to the funds. A bank that has certified a check is limited in its right to dishonor the check. (Quistgaard v EAB European Am. Bank & Trust Co., 182 AD2d 510 [1st Dept 1992].)

“Certification imports that the check is drawn upon sufficient funds in the hands of the drawee, that they have been set apart for the satisfaction of the check, and that they shall be so applied whenever the check is presented by a holder entitled to the funds. The general rule is that the drawee bank is liable to a bona fide holder of a check it has certified, regardless of the state of the drawer’s account, the implication being that the check is drawn upon sufficient funds, and the bank being estopped to deny that such is the case * * * .” (9 NY Jur 2d, Banks and Financial Institutions § 373.)

Where a bank certifies a check through error, mistake or fraud, the bank may revoke its certification. However, if the rights of a third party have intervened, and the check has reached the hands of a holder in due course or a party who has changed his position, between the certification and the revocation, the mistake or fraud cannot be used as a defense against the holder. (9 NY Jur 2d, Banks and Financial Institutions §§ 377, 378.)

In this case, although it is alleged by defendant Chase that plaintiff Korea is not a holder in due course, defendant Chase fails to buttress this claim with any evidence. Defendant Chase certified the check, and by so doing stated that there were sufficient funds in the account to cover the check. Plaintiff Korea paid out on the certified check, and defendant Chase fails to show that plaintiff Korea had knowledge of a problem with the certified check at the time it disbursed funds against the certified check. The fact that defendant Chase may have certified the check in error or as a result of fraud is not a defense against a holder in due course.

Defendant Chase cites U.S. Printnet v Chemung Canal Trust Co. (270 AD2d 544 [3d Dept 2000]), Turbine Fed. Credit Union v Amsterdam Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. (224 AD2d 753 [3d Dept 1996]), and Gates v Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. / Capital Region (98 AD2d 829 [3d Dept 1983]) as standing for the proposition that where a party obtains a cashier’s check by fraud, the bank may stop payment. In each of the above-cited cases plaintiff was denied summary judgment. However, in each case an issue of fact existed as to the status of plaintiff as a holder in due course.

[222]*222In Banco DiRoma v Merchants Bank of N.Y. (251 AD2d 139 [1st Dept 1998], lv denied 92 NY2d 808), the lower court granted plaintiff bank summary judgment on cashier’s checks. In affirming the decision, the Appellate Division stated as follows:

“As was implicitly recognized by this court in 1983, holder in due course status will be denied to a bank that takes a cashier’s check with notice of fraud by another. Here, however, summary judgment was properly granted to plaintiff bank upon the finding that plaintiff was a holder in due course, because defendant did not sustain its burden to provide evidentiary proof that plaintiff took the instruments in question with actual notice of the defense of fraud or in bad faith. The burden of establishing such actual notice, even to the extent necessary to avoid summary judgment, is an exacting one as it must be met without recourse to any ‘objective test which might involve constructive knowledge’ ” (at 139 [citations omitted]).

The same rule should apply to certified checks. As noted above, defendant Chase by certifying the check accepted it. In accordance with UCC 3-418, acceptance of a check is final in favor of a holder in due course.

Defendant Chase has failed to produce any evidence to show that plaintiff Korea is not a holder in due course.

Plaintiff Korea submits a copy of the “EARNS” notification which on its face indicates that it was transmitted on November 30, 2000, at 11:57 a.m. Defendant Chase claims that since the certified check is date stamped in back, November 28, 2000, plaintiff Korea may have received the physical check back before it received the “EARNS” notification. However, plaintiff Korea submits a copy of the Federal Reserve Bank’s return items which indicates that plaintiff Korea received notice of the return of the check from the Federal Reserve Bank on November 30, 2000, at 10:38 a.m.

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Related

Gates v. Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co.
98 A.D.2d 829 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1983)
Quistgaard v. EAB European American Bank & Trust Co.
182 A.D.2d 510 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1992)
Turbine Federal Credit Union v. Amsterdam Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n
224 A.D.2d 753 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
Banco Di Roma v. Merchants Bank
251 A.D.2d 139 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
U.S. Printnet, Inc. v. Chemung Canal Trust Co.
270 A.D.2d 544 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
192 Misc. 2d 219, 745 N.Y.S.2d 646, 48 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1059, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industrial-bank-of-korea-v-jp-morgan-nycivct-2002.