Court Opinion

ID: 9862055
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 00:59:00.94181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:29:58.632128
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE RIZZI, dissenting: I would affirm the trial court’s ruling in this case because I do not believe that plaintiff can maintain a cause of action based upon the facts alleged in the complaint and because there is no proposed amendment to the complaint in the record on appeal. The relationship between a bank and its depositor is that of debtor and creditor (see Paskas v. Illini Federal Savings & Loan Association (1982), 109 Ill. App. 3d 24, 31, 440 N.E.2d 194, 198-99), not of agent and principal, or trustee and beneficiary of a trust. The contract between the two controls their relationship. The bank agrees with its customer to receive the customer’s deposit, to account to the customer for the deposit, to repay the deposit on demand, and to honor the customer’s checks when presented. The bank is liable to the customer for any breach of the contract based upon that relationship. However, the money deposited becomes absolutely the property of the bank, impressed with no trust, and the bank may dispose of it at its pleasure subject only to its personal obligation to the depositor to pay an equivalent sum upon his demand. The right of the bank to use the money for its own benefit is the very consideration for its promise to the depositor. H. Bailey, Brady on Bank Checks sec. 4.1 (5th ed. 1979). Here, the facts alleged in the complaint show that CFI deposited funds into its account at Belmont National Bank. Plaintiff was not a party to that account. In my judgment, since the only relationship which existed between Belmont National Bank and CFI was that of debtor-creditor, plaintiff cannot maintain a cause of action for conversion against Belmont National Bank regarding the application of funds in CFI’s account with the bank. Accordingly, I would affirm the ruling of the trial court.