BILLS AND NOTES - FALSE IMPERSONATION - EFFECT OF ABSENCE OF PRIOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH IMPOSTOR

Authors

Edward D. Ransom, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The plaintiff obtained a draft drawn on defendant bank with the plaintiff as payee, and indorsed by her in blank. The draft was for payment of a condemnation award to be sold at a discount through a broker. The plaintiff's husband, acting as her agent, went to the broker's office with his attorney. A man came in and was introduced, by one acting as his attorney, as Harry Wolter, the owner of the award. Thereupon plaintiff's husband handed the draft to his attorney, who wrote over the blank indorsements "pay to the order of Harry Wolter." There were no further negotiations. The one representing himself to be Harry Wolter was an impostor. He indorsed the draft in the name of Harry Wolter to one Jacoby, who paid value for it, presented it to the defendant bank and was paid. The defendant charged the plaintiff's account and the plaintiff now sues to recover against the bank. Jacoby was joined as defendant, being the one who would ultimately have to pay if the plaintiff was successful. Held, the defendant drawee bank had no right to charge the plaintiff's account for the amount of the draft. The signature was treated as a forgery since the real payee intended was the one named and not the impostor, there being no prior negotiations with the impostor. Cohen v. Lincoln Savings Bank of Brooklyn, 275 N. Y. 399, 10 N. E. (2d) 457 (1937).

Recommended Citation

Edward D. Ransom, BILLS AND NOTES - FALSE IMPERSONATION - EFFECT OF ABSENCE OF PRIOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH IMPOSTOR, 37 Mich. L. Rev. 126 (1938).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol37/iss1/11