Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...“[T]he relationship between a bank and its depositing customer is contractual.” MJZ Corp. v. Gulfstream First Bank & Trust, 420 So.2d 396, 397 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1981) (citing McCrory Stores Corp. v. Tunnicliffe, 104 Fla. 683 , 140 So. 806 (1932)). Section 401 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) (Fla.Stat. § 674.401(1)) similarly contemplates that a bank will pay only in accordance with its contractual obligations to its customers....

banks for improper payment on the checks, under § 674-401, Fla. Stat. (1975), UCC § 4-401 (1962). At that

...Zappone, personally and in his corporate capacity, was liable to the bank for the full amount of both checks. In its brief and at trial, the bank has argued that Article IV of Florida's Uniform Commercial Code, Section 674.101, et seq., Florida Statutes (1981), applies. Section 674.401(1), Florida Statutes (1981), states the following: "As against its customer, a bank may charge against his account any item which is otherwise properly payable from that account even though the charge creates an overdraft." This language, the bank asserts, authorized the creation of an $18,000 overdraft in Mr....

...This often results in inequitable application of the statute since favored customers are frequently permitted by the bank to overdraw their accounts without penalty, and others not so favored are subject to prosecution under the instant statute, *191 within the discretion of the bank. See Section 674.401, F.S....

...Coles, Sr., but which were admittedly unauthorizedly forged by his son in a manner which was obviously "not comparable" to the one which appeared on the bank's signature cards. The only basis [1] for the denial of the bank's liability for its plainly unauthorized payments from Mr. Coles's account, see § 674.401, Fla....

...After North First Bank paid Finley the proceeds of the check, Lee County Bank charged Brown’s account for $40,000 and instituted this action. Following the taking of depositions, the court entered summary judgment in favor of the bank for $40,000. We affirm. Section 674.401(1), Florida Statutes (1983), provides: (1) As against its customer, a bank may charge against his account any item which is otherwise properly payable from that account even though the charge creates an overdraft....

...Any payment on such an instrument is not to the professed drawer's order and violates the drawee bank's strict duty to charge the account of its customer only for properly payable items. Perini, 553 F.2d at 404. Arkwright's U.C.C. cause of action is based on Florida Uniform Commercial Code Statute § 674.401 which provides that a bank may only charge against its customer's account an item that is properly payable from the account....

...standards by which the bank's responsibility is to be measured if those standards are not manifestly 2 674.103(1) "permits within wide limits variation of the effects of provisions of the article by Agreement."). Under Fla. Stat. § 674.401(1), a check that would not otherwise be properly payable becomes properly payable if it is authorized by the customer and is in accordance with the banking agreement....

...Any payment on such an instrument is not to the professed drawer's order and violates the drawee bank's strict duty to charge the account of its customer only for properly payable items. Perini, 553 F.2d at 404. Arkwright’s U.C.C. cause of action is based on Florida Uniform Commercial Code Statute § 674.401 which provides that a bank may only charge against its customer’s account an item that is properly payable from the account....

...allows a bank and its customer to contract around the default rules set forth in U.C.C. Fla. Stat. § 674.103(1);2 19B Fla. Stat. Ann., U.C.C. Comment to § 674.103 (1993) (indicating that § 674.103(1) “permits within wide limits variation of the effects of provisions of the article by Agreement.”). Under Fla. Stat. § 674.401(1), a check that would not otherwise be properly payable becomes properly payable if it is authorized by the customer and is in accordance with the banking agreement....

...t relevant here. Plainly, a check written on an account with insufficient funds is still a payable item from the customer's account because the bank, in its discretion, may honor the overdrawn check and thereafter charge the customer's account under Section 674.401(1), Florida Statutes (1985)....