I brought twenty-eight checks to my bank that were paid against my account between July and December of last year. All of them have forged signatures. The checks were stolen. I know who the payee is, and have made a police complaint. I also signed my bank's affidavit saying that I will help prosecute. Now my bank is refusing to pay for these checks. Who is responsible?
This answer probably won't be the one you're expecting. There's a provision in the Uniform Commercial Code designed to push much of this type of loss back on the business customer. The reasoning is that the business customer has a duty to examine bank statements quickly to identify errors and fraud. Further, businesses are expected to have controls over who has access to their checkbooks.
The most the bank is likely to be liable for is the total of the forged checks that appeared in the first statement reflecting the forgeries, plus any forgeries that occurred in the thirty0 days after that first statement was made available to you. The thirty-day period may be shortened under the bank's deposit contract. The theory is that you could have prevented any later forgeries if you had only looked at your bank statement on time.
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This answer probably won't be the one you're expecting. There's a provision in the 