Victim of a scam
In late 2015, unidentified scam artists, using a “winning lottery ticket” scheme, convinced an elderly woman to have a $90,000 check issued to her from her bank account. The scam artists then convinced the woman to have the check cashed at a licensed check cashing establishment.
After the check was cashed, the scam artists absconded with the funds.
The woman subsequently sued both her bank and the check cashing establishment for negligence (by allegedly failing to identify and prevent the scam from taking place) and for breach of contract (by allegedly not following bank regulations) and sought $150,000 in damages.
Upon a pre-discovery motion by Wasser & Russ, the Court dismissed the case against the licensed check cashing establishment.
The Court found that the plaintiff had:
- failed to specify any statute which gives rise to a duty of care imposed on the check cashing establishment, resulting in the dismissal of the negligence claim; and
- failed to identify any specific banking regulations that the check cashing establishment violated,
This resulted in the dismissal of the breach of contract claim.
Adam H. Russ and Isaac Alony represented the check cashing establishment.