Patrick v. Union State Bank, Supreme Court of Alabama. 1995.
This appeal stems from a negligence case brought by the plaintiff, Bridgette Patrick, against the defendant, Union State Bank. The charge was negligence for the failure to properly ensure the identification of an imposter, Jane Doe a.k.a. ôBridgette Patrickö, before opening a checking account on behalf of the imposter in PlaintiffÆs name.
The facts of the case allege that an imposter, using a temporary driverÆs license belonging to Plaintiff and without PlaintiffÆs permission, opened an account at the Union State Bank under the name ôBridgette Patrick.ö The temporary license used did not have a photograph. Defendant did not verify the phone number or social security number of the imposter, despite a noticeable discrepancy between the signature appearing on the driverÆs license and that of the imposter. The imposter then used the checks in PlaintiffÆs name to fraudulently obtain merchandise in several townships. Plaintiff was subsequently arrested by a number of those townships and forced to spend a total of nearly two weeks in jail.
Plaintiff argued that the negligence of Defendant was the direct cause of her arrest, leading to her pain and humiliation.
In support of her case, Plaintiff argued that Defendant had a duty to make a reasonable effort to verify the identity of persons attempting to open an account; that the Defendant failed in that duty; and the direct result of that failure was PlaintiffÆs arrest causing her to suffer pain and humiliation.
In defense, Defendant argued that even if it did act unreasonably in opening the account, it could not be found negligent as a matter of law because it could not have foreseen the harm its action would ultimately cause Plaintiff.
The lower court agreed and accordingly, entered summary judgement for Defendant.
Could Union State Bank have foreseen the harm caused to Ms. Patrick?
Yes...