Patrick v. Union State Bank

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. "Bridgette Patrick", before opening a checking account on behalf of the imposter in Plaintiff's name.

The facts of the case allege that an imposter, using a temporary driver's license belonging to Plaintiff and without Plaintiff's permission, opened an account at the Union State Bank under the name "Bridgette Patrick." 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 driver's license and that of the imposter. The imposter then used the checks in Plaintiff's 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 Plaintif

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Category: Government - P