Wells v. Bank of New York Co.

181 Misc. 2d 574, 694 N.Y.S.2d 570, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 306
New York Supreme Court·Decided May 24, 1999·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

[576]*576OPINION OF THE COURT

Barry A. Cozier, J.

Motion sequence Nos. 001 and 002 are consolidated for disposition. In motion sequence No. 001, The Bank of New York Company, Inc. (BNY) moves, pursuant to CPLR 3211, for dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims as asserted against it, and for an order striking the jury demand to the extent that any claims remain. In motion sequence No. 002, Citibank, N. A. (Citibank), moves, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7), for dismissal of plaintiffs’ third and sixth causes of action for failure to state claim upon which relief could be granted.

FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

This action arises out of the plaintiffs’ claims that defendants paid over 130 unauthorized checks, amounting to approximately $379,000, which were drawn on plaintiffs’ respective checking accounts. Plaintiffs’ accounts consisted of a corporate checking account maintained by plaintiff The Magazine Press, Inc. (The Press), and a joint personal checking account maintained by plaintiffs Jonathan Wells, the president of The Press, and Jane Wells, his wife. Plaintiffs maintain that, during the period of April 1995 through July 1998, their bookkeeper, Luis Nunez, drew checks upon their accounts by forging the signature of Jonathan Wells, who was an authorized signatory on both accounts. These checks allegedly were made payable to either Nunez or to vendors with whom The Press regularly did business, and were deposited into Nunez’s personal account in Citibank. Plaintiffs commenced this action for compensatory damages, alleging six causes of action: against BNY, individually, for conversion (first); breach of contract (second); two claims of commercial bad faith (fourth and fifth); against Citibank, individually, for commercial bad faith (sixth); and against BNY and Citibank for negligence (third).

In support of its dismissal motion, BNY argues that the claims asserted in the complaint are legally insufficient; are statutorily barred by UCC 4-406 (4) to the extent of those corporate checks paid prior to August 1997; that The Press’ claims are contractually barred in that The Press failed to timely report the alleged unauthorized checks; and that the [577]*577payment of the subject corporate checks was ratified by The Press’ corporate resolution dated August 25, 1998.

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Wells v. Bank of New York Co., 181 Misc. 2d 574, 694 N.Y.S.2d 570, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 306 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1999).

181 Misc. 2d 574 (Wells v. Bank of New York Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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