Stephen, Eric, and the Kaptor Group were all customers of the same bank. Stephen was involved in
Question:
Stephen, Eric, and the Kaptor Group were all customers of the same bank. Stephen was involved in a business arrangement with the Kaptor Group, pursuant to which he made regular payments to Kaptor by way of cheques. The bank discovered that Eric and the Kaptor Group were circulating worthless cheques in a fraudulent scheme known as “cheque kiting.” As a result, the bank froze Kaptor’s accounts, and discovered the accounts were overdrawn in the amount of $7 million. However, the bank did not tell Stephen that it had frozen Kaptor’s accounts, nor of its suspicions that Kaptor was engaged in fraudulent behaviour, and continued to process cheques issued by Stephen and payable to Kaptor. In fact, the bank used the funds represented by those cheques to reduce the indebtedness owed by Kaptor to the bank. What obligations does the bank owe to Stephen in this situation? Does the bank owe a duty of confidentiality to Kaptor? If so, how far does that duty extend if it jeopardizes the interests of another customer of the bank?
Step by Step Answer:
Canadian Business And The Law
ISBN: 9780176795085
7th Edition
Authors: Philip King Dorothy Duplessis, Shannon O Byrne