Beshara v. Southern National Bank

After developing a social relationship a bank employee, the customer opened a checking account at the bank. The customer allowed the employee to conduct virtually all his business at the bank including making deposits and withdrawals from the account. Unknown to the customer the employee added herself as an authorized signer on the account and redirected the statements to her home address. Upon the discovery by the bank of the embezzlement, it froze the customer's account pending completion of an internal audit. The account remained frozen for over three year despite the recovery of insurance claims by the bank and a determination that the customer had over $100,000.00 in verified funds remaining in the account. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held the customer had valid claims against the bank regarding wrongful dishonor of checks, breach of good faith and conversion that should be submitted to a jury for its determination.