Gerber & Gerber PC v. Regions Bank

Questions of fact remained as to whether the defendant bank violated reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing by accepting blank-endorsed forged checks made payable to a law firm for deposit into a firm employee's personal account.

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Over a period of two years, an employee of the Gerber & Gerber law firm G&G stole from G&G some cashier’s checks endorsed in blank and some checks payable to G&G on which she forged G&G’s endorsement and deposited the checks into her personal account at Regions Bank, where G&G also maintained its accounts. Alleging that Regions Bank had acted negligently in accepting the checks for deposit, G&G sued the bank to recover the money lost. The court entered summary judgment in favor of Regions Bank on the cashier’s checks but held material issues of fact precluded summary judgment on the forged checks. Both parties appeal the portions of the judgment adverse to their interests. Discerning no error, we affirm. “Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c.” Matjoulis v. Integon Gen. Ins. Corp. , 226 Ga. App. 459 1 486 SE2d 684 1997. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, construing the evidence in favor of the nonmovant. Id.

Construed in favor of G&G, the evidence showed that Cynthia Stafford worked for a law firm as a real estate closing secretary. She stole money from that firm through forging the firm’s endorsement on checks made payable to the firm received at the real estate closings and depositing them into her personal account. When the forgery was discovered, she confessed and worked out an arrangement to continue at the firm at a reduced salary to repay the stolen money. She then stole a second time and the firm closed. The aggregate amount stolen was about $130,000.

Gerber & Gerber PC v. Regions Bank

Questions of fact remained as to whether the defendant bank violated reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing by accepting blank-endorsed forged checks made payable to a law firm for deposit into a firm employee's personal account.

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