MedicCook
12-29-2007, 01:34 PM
Woman sues bank in hopes of recovering life savings
Willie Floyd, an 82-year-old Milwaukee widow, has filed a lawsuit against officers of the nation's third-largest bank, one with assets of nearly $1.5 trillion, saying they have cheated her out of her life savings - $19,700.22.
For many years, Floyd and her husband, the late Douglas Floyd, had a savings account at the Marine Bank branch in Waukesha, even though it was far from the north side Milwaukee home where they raised two sons and two daughters.
"My husband was a mechanic at Jack Griffin Ford out there for about 40 years," the widow said. "It was close to where he worked."
In 1985, Douglas Floyd was contemplating retirement and the couple were planning to move back to Arkansas, where they grew up, met and married.
Douglas Floyd withdrew the money from the savings account in April 1985, fully intending to deposit it in another savings account when the couple resettled in the South.
But things happened.
"My husband, he got sick," Willie Floyd said. "He had prostate cancer, and he never got any better."
For a time, the Floyds held out hope that his health would improve and they would make the move. He decided to put the check in a safe deposit box - for which they paid $10 a year - at the bank.
"He got nervous about having the money in the house and he said, 'What if the house catches fire?' So we decided to get a safe deposit box out at the bank way out in Waukesha," she said.
Douglas Floyd died in October 1988. Willie Floyd moved in with her granddaughter, Bridgit Floyd.
The widow said she thought the money was protected as long as it was in a safe deposit box at the bank. She said that some time after her husband died, she asked a teller how long she could keep the check in the box.
"I was told that as long as they were a bank, it would be good," Willie Floyd said. "I didn't think much of it until I got a letter from the bank and I didn't recognize the name" of the bank.
Although the bank's name had changed twice - Marine was acquired by Bank One in 1988; Bank One was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2004 - this was the first time she had noticed.
Willie Floyd said she hadn't thought about the interest she was losing by not having it in a standard savings account. The interest she would have earned could vary, but a calculator provided online by the Federal Reserve Bank indicates that if she had bought something for $19,700.22 in 1985, it would cost her $38,480.79 to buy the same goods or services, based on the Consumer Price Index.
Willie Floyd didn't share the details of the check with her family.
"I knew there was a check in the safe deposit box, but I had no idea how much it was for," Bridgit Floyd said. "She told me it was none of my business. But we were always careful to pay the annual fee on time. We were never late, not even once."
After becoming concerned when she got a letter from the bank and the name was different from what she remembered, the widow went to the bank, got the check out of the safe deposit box and tried to open a savings account with it in the spring of 2006. Bank officials told her that the check wasn't good anymore.
She hired a lawyer, Tarena Washington Franklin, who said she was directed to bank officials in Louisiana, who told her that the money had been given to the State of Wisconsin as unclaimed.
"I checked with the state, and it was not there," Franklin said. "That money has to be somewhere, and we couldn't get any answer from them. We filed a lawsuit to get their attention."
Franklin noted that the check does not have an expiration date.
"What they're doing, it's unjust," Franklin said of bank officials. "It will clearly be unjust enrichment for the bank if they are allowed to keep the money."
Joshua Stubbins, a local lawyer representing the bank, filed a written response to Franklin's lawsuit. He said a cashier's check that is uncashed after five years is presumed to be "abandoned" under state law. He added that the bank "did not willfully or negligently commit a wrongful, illegal or inappropriate act," and that the case should be dismissed.
Franklin argued that the check should be considered abandoned after five years only after the bank gives notice to the check holder that it is taking that action.
"They never gave my client a notice of any kind," Franklin said. "There is nothing printed on the check indicating an expiration date."
Stubbins did not return a reporter's calls. Christine Holevas, a bank spokeswoman in Chicago, said Chase would have no comment because of the ongoing suit.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Hansher will hear arguments in February on the bank's motion to throw out the lawsuit, which asks that the check be honored. If not resolved, the case could go to trial in midsummer.
Meanwhile, Willie Floyd said she's just sick about the whole matter.
"I didn't even cook dinner last night," she said recently. "I should have just buried that money in the backyard."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=701111
Willie Floyd, an 82-year-old Milwaukee widow, has filed a lawsuit against officers of the nation's third-largest bank, one with assets of nearly $1.5 trillion, saying they have cheated her out of her life savings - $19,700.22.
For many years, Floyd and her husband, the late Douglas Floyd, had a savings account at the Marine Bank branch in Waukesha, even though it was far from the north side Milwaukee home where they raised two sons and two daughters.
"My husband was a mechanic at Jack Griffin Ford out there for about 40 years," the widow said. "It was close to where he worked."
In 1985, Douglas Floyd was contemplating retirement and the couple were planning to move back to Arkansas, where they grew up, met and married.
Douglas Floyd withdrew the money from the savings account in April 1985, fully intending to deposit it in another savings account when the couple resettled in the South.
But things happened.
"My husband, he got sick," Willie Floyd said. "He had prostate cancer, and he never got any better."
For a time, the Floyds held out hope that his health would improve and they would make the move. He decided to put the check in a safe deposit box - for which they paid $10 a year - at the bank.
"He got nervous about having the money in the house and he said, 'What if the house catches fire?' So we decided to get a safe deposit box out at the bank way out in Waukesha," she said.
Douglas Floyd died in October 1988. Willie Floyd moved in with her granddaughter, Bridgit Floyd.
The widow said she thought the money was protected as long as it was in a safe deposit box at the bank. She said that some time after her husband died, she asked a teller how long she could keep the check in the box.
"I was told that as long as they were a bank, it would be good," Willie Floyd said. "I didn't think much of it until I got a letter from the bank and I didn't recognize the name" of the bank.
Although the bank's name had changed twice - Marine was acquired by Bank One in 1988; Bank One was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2004 - this was the first time she had noticed.
Willie Floyd said she hadn't thought about the interest she was losing by not having it in a standard savings account. The interest she would have earned could vary, but a calculator provided online by the Federal Reserve Bank indicates that if she had bought something for $19,700.22 in 1985, it would cost her $38,480.79 to buy the same goods or services, based on the Consumer Price Index.
Willie Floyd didn't share the details of the check with her family.
"I knew there was a check in the safe deposit box, but I had no idea how much it was for," Bridgit Floyd said. "She told me it was none of my business. But we were always careful to pay the annual fee on time. We were never late, not even once."
After becoming concerned when she got a letter from the bank and the name was different from what she remembered, the widow went to the bank, got the check out of the safe deposit box and tried to open a savings account with it in the spring of 2006. Bank officials told her that the check wasn't good anymore.
She hired a lawyer, Tarena Washington Franklin, who said she was directed to bank officials in Louisiana, who told her that the money had been given to the State of Wisconsin as unclaimed.
"I checked with the state, and it was not there," Franklin said. "That money has to be somewhere, and we couldn't get any answer from them. We filed a lawsuit to get their attention."
Franklin noted that the check does not have an expiration date.
"What they're doing, it's unjust," Franklin said of bank officials. "It will clearly be unjust enrichment for the bank if they are allowed to keep the money."
Joshua Stubbins, a local lawyer representing the bank, filed a written response to Franklin's lawsuit. He said a cashier's check that is uncashed after five years is presumed to be "abandoned" under state law. He added that the bank "did not willfully or negligently commit a wrongful, illegal or inappropriate act," and that the case should be dismissed.
Franklin argued that the check should be considered abandoned after five years only after the bank gives notice to the check holder that it is taking that action.
"They never gave my client a notice of any kind," Franklin said. "There is nothing printed on the check indicating an expiration date."
Stubbins did not return a reporter's calls. Christine Holevas, a bank spokeswoman in Chicago, said Chase would have no comment because of the ongoing suit.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Hansher will hear arguments in February on the bank's motion to throw out the lawsuit, which asks that the check be honored. If not resolved, the case could go to trial in midsummer.
Meanwhile, Willie Floyd said she's just sick about the whole matter.
"I didn't even cook dinner last night," she said recently. "I should have just buried that money in the backyard."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=701111