Court Opinion

ID: 9534578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:41:10.186047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:31:53.929124
License: Public Domain

SCHUDSON, J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part). Although I agree with the disposition of this appeal and most of the majority's analysis, I disagree with the conclusion "that the fourteen-day period is not 'manifestly unreasonable.'" Majority op. at 578.
Inexplicably, the majority asserts that "[t]he weight of [the] limited authority [on the issue of whether a fourteen-day period is unreasonably short] ... supports Firstar Bank." Id. at 575. Indeed, the very authorities the majority cites suggest otherwise.
According to those authorities, when legislators evaluated what reasonable time limits would be, those in Alabama and Oregon chose 180 days; those in Georgia and Washington chose 60 days. See id. at 576. When one appellate court considered the question, it concluded that twenty days would be "manifestly unreasonable" under some circumstances. See id. at 575 (citing Stowell, 557 N.W.2d at 574). Another authority, while accepting a fourteen-day limit, declared that "a bank would be pushing it by attempting to reduce the period further." See id. at 577 (quoting Barkley Clark & Barbara Clark, The Law of Bank Deposits, Collections and Credit Cards ¶ 3.01[3][c] at 3-28 (rev. ed. 1995)). Thus, the authorities certainly do not establish or even support the notion that a fourteen-day limit is reasonable.
The unreasonableness of the fourteen-day limit becomes apparent when considering one of countless potential problems for most people — everyday people, *581from all walks of life, who would be unaware of and surprised by such a fourteen-day provision in their checking account agreements. Most people, taking a week or two of vacation, facing the frantic few days that typically precede and follow their time away from home and work, would not promptly review a monthly bank statement arriving during that period.
The fourteen-day limit simply does not comport with the reasonable expectations or reasonable conduct of most people. Thus, I would conclude that a fourteen-day limit is "manifestly unreasonable," see § 404.103(1), Stats., based not only on the limited authorities, but on unlimited common sense as well.