Florida Statute 673.4041 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXXIX
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Chapter 673
UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE: NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS

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673.4041 Impostors; fictitious payees.—

(1) If an impostor, by use of the mails or otherwise, induces the issuer of an instrument to issue the instrument to the impostor, or to a person acting in concert with the impostor, by impersonating the payee of the instrument or a person authorized to act for the payee, an indorsement of the instrument by any person in the name of the payee is effective as the indorsement of the payee in favor of a person who, in good faith, pays the instrument or takes it for value or for collection.

(2) If a person whose intent determines to whom an instrument is payable (s. 673.1101(1) or (2)) does not intend the person identified as payee to have any interest in the instrument, or the person identified as payee of an instrument is a fictitious person, the following rules apply until the instrument is negotiated by special indorsement:

(a) Any person in possession of the instrument is its holder.

(b) An indorsement by any person in the name of the payee stated in the instrument is effective as the indorsement of the payee in favor of a person who, in good faith, pays the instrument or takes it for value or for collection.

(3) Under subsection (1) or subsection (2), an indorsement is made in the name of a payee if:

(a) It is made in a name substantially similar to that of the payee; or

(b) The instrument, whether or not indorsed, is deposited in a depositary bank to an account in a name substantially similar to that of the payee.

(4) With respect to an instrument to which subsection (1) or subsection (2) applies, if a person paying the instrument or taking it for value or for collection fails to exercise ordinary care in paying or taking the instrument and that failure substantially contributes to loss resulting from payment of the instrument, the person bearing the loss may recover from the person failing to exercise ordinary care to the extent the failure to exercise ordinary care contributed to the loss.

History.—s. 2, ch. 92-82.

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Amendments to 673.4041

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 673.4041

Total Results: 3 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Sarasota Avionics Int'l, Inc. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 984 F. Supp. 2d 1265 (M.D. Fla. 2013).

Published | District Court, M.D. Florida | 2013 WL 6182958, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169002

...the funds were mistakenly paid by the Department. Though it is unknown who the culprit was in this circumstance 2 , it is undisputed that the funds never belonged to Wells Fargo or Avionics. Avionics’ reliance on Florida’s U.C.C. as codified in Section 673.4041 of the Florida Statutes to avoid disgorgements of these payments is misguided....

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The Florida Bar v. Zana Holley Dupee, 160 So. 3d 838 (Fla. 2015).

Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 40 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 171, 2015 Fla. LEXIS 581, 2015 WL 1343119

...at the same credit union and then moved it to an already existing account at a bank. Because the named payee was fictitious and the check was never negotiated, the money represented by the cashier’s check remained the property of Respondent’s client. See § 673.4041(2), Fla....

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Lucas v. Bankatlantic, 924 So. 2d 959 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2006).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 59 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 346, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 4967, 2006 WL 862903

...who “transfer[red] an item” within the meaning of section 674.207(1), Florida Statutes (2004). We do not reach the issue under section 674.207, because the section 673.4161 transfer warranty is applicable under the undisputed facts of this case. Section 673.4041 is crucial to the result here....

...any person in the name of the payee stated in the instrument [Lucas]” is “effective as the indorsement” of Lucas “in favor” of BankAtlantic, “a person who, in good faith, [paid] the instrument or [took] it for value or for collection.” § 673.4041(2)(a), Fla....

...Whoever indorsed the check did so “in the name of’ Lucas, the payee, because the check, “whether or not indorsed, [was] deposited in a depositary bank to an account in a name substantially similar to that of the payee,” i.e., Lucas’s trust account. § 673.4041(3)(b), Fla. Stat. (2004). Section 673.4041 operates to make Lucas an indorser of the check....

...lly deposited the check into Lucas’s account, the Code treats the check as being indorsed by Lucas, so that BankAtlantic may look to him to recover its loss. We therefore affirm the summary judgment on the issue of Lucas’s liability to the bank. Section 673.4041(4) comes into play when section 673.4041(2) applies to an instrument, as it does in this case....

...from payment of the instrument, the person bearing the loss may recover from the person failing to exercise ordinary care to the extent the failure to exercise ordinary care contributed to the loss. Issues of fact remain as to the application of the section 673.4041(2) affirmative defense....

This Florida statute resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a Jacksonville, Florida personal injury and workers' compensation attorney. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.