Godat v. Mercantile Bank of Northwest County

I must dissent.

Mercantile Bank dishonored its cashier’s check made payable to David Godat, an innocent payee. The remitter of the cashier’s check was Godat’s dishonest investment broker. Without Godat’s knowledge, Kevin Hasty purchased the cashier’s check utilizing a fraudulent cheek scheme and the bank negligently failed to confirm the sufficiency of the remitter’s funds. Godat received, endorsed and delivered the check to another before he learned of Hasty’s wrongdoing.

The parties tried the ease on the assumption Godat must be a holder in due course to recover. The elements necessary to…