Answer:
If the customer's signature (as opposed to endorsement) was forged, the checks were not authorized, and your bank should review section 4-406 of the Uniform Commercial Code to sort out your liability to your customer for paying the checks from his/her account. In such a case, the bank that cashed those checks didn't make final payment, your bank did. Unless there is a check clearing house rule that provides you a special fraudulent check warranty, you can't go after the depositary banks in these cases if you missed your midnight deadline to return the checks.
If the checks stolen were payable to your customer and the customer's endorsement was forged, the party that starts the reimbursement ball rolling is again, your customer, but it starts with a non-payment claim and forged endorsement claim against the issuers of the checks, who in turn enter claims against their banks (the paying banks) for unauthorized payments. Those banks then make claims against the depositary banks under their warranties of presentment. Unless your bank happened to be one of the banks involved as a paying bank or depositary bank, you're not part of the picture.
First published on BankersOnline.com 4/19/10
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