Corfan Banco Asuncion Paraguay v. Ocean Bank

715 So. 2d 967 (1998)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P originated a wire transfer of $72,972.00 via its intermediary Swiss Bank to the account of its customer, Silva, in D. The transfer had Silva's name as the recipient and indicated that his account number was 010070210400. The account number was nonexistent. D noticed a discrepancy in this number and before depositing the money, confirmed with Silva that his correct account number was 010076216406. D did not, P or Swiss Bank of the error. Silva confirmed the number and D accepted the wire transfer and credited Silva's account. P became aware of the account number discrepancy and sent a second wire transfer of $72,972.00 to Silva's correct account number. P did not inform Silva or D. The second transfer order did not indicate that it was a correction, replacement or amendment of the March 22nd transfer. It was automatically processed and was credited to Silva's account. A few days later D decided to check things out and found that Silva had withdrawn the proceeds of both wire transfers. D refused to repay $72,972.00, and P sued D. P sued for under UCC 4A-207 and common law negligence. D denied liability and contended that the negligence claim was precluded by the preemptive statutory scheme. The court found that D had not contravened 4A-207 by crediting the erroneous wire transfer to Silva's account. It found that P was the party best situated to have avoided this loss. D appealed.