Peter Torocsik v. HSBC Bank USA, National Association, etc., and Matthew Weaver, etc.

165 So. 3d 781, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 741, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 8036, 2015 WL 3387916
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 27, 2015
Docket4D13-2569
StatusPublished

This text of 165 So. 3d 781 (Peter Torocsik v. HSBC Bank USA, National Association, etc., and Matthew Weaver, etc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peter Torocsik v. HSBC Bank USA, National Association, etc., and Matthew Weaver, etc., 165 So. 3d 781, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 741, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 8036, 2015 WL 3387916 (Fla. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CIKLIN, J.

Peter Torocsik appeals the order denying his motion for summary judgment and entering summary judgment for HSBC, et al. (“the Bank”), on Torocsik’s suit for damages related to a dishonored cashier’s check. We reverse.

In 2008, Torocsik was the seller of his restaurant and entered into a stock purchase agreement contract with Matthew Weaver and Yanni Agelopoulos, the buyers of the restaurant. The contract provided that at the closing, Torocsik (“the seller”) was to provide specified corporate documents to Weaver and Agelopoulos (“the buyers”) and that the buyers were to make various payments toward a total purchase price of $100,000. The contract provided for a closing date of May 27, 2008, and the closing was to take place in the office of the buyers’ attorney. The closing was made contingent on “the parties!’] approval of employment contracts ... and the Purchasers and Sellers agreeing upon the terms of an operating agreement.” The closing never took place although at least one payment of $30,000 was made by one of the buyers to the seller.

Subsequent to the failed closing date, the seller brought suit against the Bank, seeking money damages for wrongful dishonor of the subject cashier’s check. The seller alleged as follows. Pursuant to the contract, one of the buyers, Weaver, agreed to partially pay the seller $30,000. The Bank issued a cashier’s check to Weaver (with the seller as payee), in the amount of $30,000 which was voluntarily delivered to the seller on May 19, 2008. That day, the seller deposited the check into his Wachovia bank account. On May 20, Weaver executed an affidavit which identified the cashier’s check he had delivered to the seller as “stolen.” With that information, the Bank then demanded Wa-chovia return the funds. That same day, Wachovia froze the seller’s account after withdrawing the $30,000 that the seller had deposited the day before. The Bank informed the seller that it had stopped payment based on “the stolen check affidavit” from Weaver. The affidavit stated that the Bank issued the buyer a U.S. Dollar Draft in the amount of $30,000, payable to the seller, and that the check was “stolen.” Weaver did not elaborate on the details of the alleged theft.

As a defense to the seller’s suit, the Bank asserted in its answer that Weaver tendered the check as a good-faith deposit and that the sale of the business was never consummated.

*783 The seller and the Bank filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The Bank argued summary judgment was required because the seller had no right to retain the $30,000 payment. In support of its motion, the Bank submitted portions of transcripts of the seller’s deposition testimony. In the depositions, the seller testified that after the subject $30,000 cashier’s check was delivered to him, the buyers asked the seller to return the money after the buyers spoke to restaurant employees, who “scared [the buyers] away” by telling them that the restaurant was not profitable. The seller informed the buyers that the check was already deposited. The seller additionally informed the buyers that he would not return the money because the buyers refused to return corporate papers he had given to them in return for their check.

The trial court denied the seller’s motion for summary judgment but granted summary judgment in favor of the Bank. In ruling for the Bank, the trial court found that under the unambiguous terms of the contract, the seller was not entitled to cash the check when he deposited it in his Wachovia account. The court also found that the Bank was permitted to refuse payment because the check was stolen.

The standard of review is de novo. Chhabra v. Morales, 906 So.2d 1261, 1262 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (citation omitted). To the extent the seller challenges the court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment, this court has no jurisdiction to review such an order, even where a final summary judgment for the opposing party has been entered. See Sheres v. Genender, 965 So.2d 1268, 1270 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007) (recognizing that rules of appellate procedure do not provide for appeal of an order denying a motion for summary judgment, but do permit jurisdiction over appeal of portion of the order granting summary judgment and entering partial summary judgment). As such, this opinion is limited to the portion of the order entering summary judgment for the Bank.

The seller’s action for damages against the Bank was based on section 673.4111, Florida Statutes (2008), which provides in pertinent part:

(1) In this section, the term “obligated bank” means:
(a) The acceptor of a certified check; or
(b) The issuer of a cashier’s check or teller’s check bought from the issuer.
(2) If the obligated bank wrongfully refuses to pay a cashier’s check or certified check, wrongfully stops payment of a teller’s check, or wrongfully refuses to pay a dishonored teller’s check, the person asserting the right to enforce the check is entitled to compensation for expenses and loss of interest resulting from the nonpayment and may recover consequential damages if the obligated bank refuses to pay after receiving notice of particular circumstances giving rise to the damages.
(3) Expenses or consequential damages under subsection (2) are not recoverable if the refusal of the obligated bank to pay occurs because:
(a) The bank suspends payments;
(b) The obligated bank asserts a claim or defense of the bank that it has reasonable grounds to believe is available against the person entitled to enforce the instrument;
(c) The obligated bank has a reasonable doubt whether the person demanding payment is the person entitled to enforce the instrument; or
(d) Payment is prohibited by law.

In concluding that summary judgment for the Bank was warranted, the trial court relied in part on Warren Fin., Inc. v. *784 Barnett Bank of Jacksonville, N.A., 552 So.2d 194 (Fla.1989). However, application of the holding of that case to the facts of this case is a non-sequitur; it does not support summary judgment for the Bank.

Warren involved a financing agreement. Redan, the named payee on a cashier’s check, endorsed it over to Warren, a party with whom it had entered into a financing agreement. After Warren deposited the check, it failed to follow through on an alleged agreement to advance funds to Re-dan. Redan then persuaded the purchaser of the check to request the issuing bank to stop payment based on fraud. After the bank complied, Warren sued the bank for wrongfully dishonoring the cheek.

On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court held that the issuing bank wrongfully dishonored the check under these circumstances. Id. at 201. In response to a question certified to it by the district court, the supreme court held that an obligated bank may raise limited defenses when it dishonors a cashier’s check:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sheres v. Genender
965 So. 2d 1268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)
Warren Finance, Inc. v. Barnett Bank of Jacksonville, NA
552 So. 2d 194 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1989)
Chhabra v. Morales
906 So. 2d 1261 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 So. 3d 781, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 741, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 8036, 2015 WL 3387916, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peter-torocsik-v-hsbc-bank-usa-national-association-etc-and-matthew-fladistctapp-2015.