109 Misc. 24 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1919
The evidence establishes that during the year 1917 plaintiffs had a general deposit account with the defendant, and also a similar account with the Bank of New York; that during the months of May and June, 1916, one Herbert Pratt, a confidential bookkeeper in the employ of the plaintiffs, forged a series of checks on the Bank of New York, aggregating, up to July 1, 1916, the sum of $5,400; that on July 2, 1917, Pratt forged a check drawn upon the defendant to the order of the Bank of New York in the sum of $5,000; that this check was deposited in the Bank of New York by the forger to the credit of the plaintiffs’ account and paid by the defendant; that subsequently Pratt forged another series of checks drawn upon the Bank of New York, the first of which was dated July 9, 1917, and the last August 31, 1917, aggregating in all $5,353.44, and that the forgeries were discovered by the plaintiffs on or about September 4, 1917. Defendant seeks to avoid liability for paying the amount of the forged check drawn upon it, upon the ground that the proceeds of the check were deposited with the Bank of New York to the credit of the plaintiffs, constituting a payment of that sum to the plaintiffs, and hence that they sustained no damages. Defendant also contends that the plaintiffs ratified the act of the Bank of New York in collecting the $5,000, and further, that the plaintiffs were negligent in failing to observe the ordinary safeguards in auditing and checking up the statements of their accounts
Judgment for plaintiffs.