Yaodi Hu v. Park National Bank

333 F. App'x 87
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 7, 2009
DocketNo. 08-2555
StatusPublished

This text of 333 F. App'x 87 (Yaodi Hu v. Park National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yaodi Hu v. Park National Bank, 333 F. App'x 87 (7th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER

Yaodi Hu deposited thousands of dollars in counterfeit United States postal money orders into his account at Park National Bank. After the bank discovered the money orders were bogus and reversed Hu’s deposits, he sued the bank and Donald Nichols, the postal employee who prompted the bank to investigate, claiming that the defendants violated the Right to Financial Privacy Act and conspired to deny him due process. The district court dismissed Nichols from the lawsuit for lack of service and granted summary judgment for the bank. We affirm the judgment.

As an initial matter, we note that our recitation of the facts tracks the story that was told by Hu and, for the most part, accepted as true by the bank. Hu, though, failed to respond to the bank’s statement of undisputed facts at summary judgment, so the district court correctly adopted the bank’s factual presentation to the extent it differs from Hu’s version and is supported by admissible evidence. See N.D. Ill. Loc. R. 56.1; Cady v. Sheahan, 467 F.3d 1057, 1061 (7th Cir.2006). We too accept the bank’s facts as true, although we construe them in the light most favorable to Hu. See Cady, 467 F.3d at 1061.

Hu sells pianos under the name Piano Depot. In early 2005 he received an email from “Idowu Martins,” a foreign customer offering to purchase a $2,500 piano. But the offer had an unusual twist: instead of simply paying the purchase price, Martins proposed to send $5,000 in money orders that Hu would cash and, from the proceeds, deduct the purchase price and wire the balance to a shipping company designated by Martins. Hu agreed, and when he received five postal money orders totaling $5,000, he negotiated them at Park National and deposited the proceeds into his account at the bank. Hu worried, though, that the money orders might be counterfeit, so he waited until they had cleared before withdrawing any funds. Eighteen days later he withdrew $2,600 from the account without incident. Hu reported to Martins via email that he had wired the money to the designated “shipper,” but it is unclear from the record whether Hu ever shipped the piano.

A week after confirming the transaction, Hu received another email from Martins explaining that he had been diagnosed with cancer and was in dire need of an operation. Martins said he knew someone willing to donate $15,000 in money orders for the operation, but he asked Hu to negotiate them and wire the proceeds to his doctor, keeping 10% for his trouble. Despite his earlier concern that the first set of money orders was bogus, Hu agreed, and ten postal money orders totaling $10,000 arrived within days. Hu negotiated three of the money orders at Park National and deposited the proceeds, and then went to the branch post office in Maywood, Illinois, to cash the rest. Hu asked Nichols, the branch postmaster, to examine the money orders for authenticity, and Nichols concluded that they were fakes. Hu informed Nichols that he had [89]*89just negotiated three more from the same source, as well as five others a few weeks earlier. Hu gave Nichols the address of Park National, and Nichols said he would visit the bank to investigate.

Nichols didn’t visit the bank, but Postal Inspector Jeanne Lee did that same day. She asked the bank to retrieve the three money orders and concluded that they were counterfeit. The bank immediately reversed Hu’s deposit of the proceeds. A fraud investigator notified Hu of the bank’s action and explained that a postal employee had visited the bank and determined that the money orders were fake. Later when the money orders from the piano sale were also dishonored, the bank debited Hu’s account another $5,000, leaving him with a negative balance. In July 2005 the bank sued Hu in state court for its losses; the outcome of that litigation is unknown.

Represented by counsel he later fired, Hu filed this lawsuit naming as defendants the bank and Postmaster Nichols. Hu alleged that the bank released his financial records to Nichols (Hu didn’t know about Inspector Lee and believed it was Nichols who had visited the bank) in violation of the Right to Financial Privacy Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 3401-3422, and that the defendants conspired to deny him due process by effecting the seizure of funds from his account. Hu maintained that the first batch of money orders was not counterfeit and thus the reversal of that deposit was illegal. He initially named Nichols in both his individual and official capacities but amended the complaint to remove reference to the latter. He also wanted to file a second amended complaint adding additional defendants and claims, but the district court refused to grant leave.

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Bluebook (online)
333 F. App'x 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yaodi-hu-v-park-national-bank-ca7-2009.