_______________________________________________
HOUSE
BILL 1525
______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1995 Regular Session
_
State of Washington 54th
Legislature 1995 Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/30/95.
Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance.
Lowering the number
of items provided by banks for customers' examination of negotiable
instruments.
AN ACT
Relating to information provided by banks for customers' examination of
negotiable instruments; amending RCW 62A.4‑406; providing an effective
date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
62A.4‑406 and 1993 c 229 s 111 are each amended to read as follows:
(a) A
bank that sends or makes available to a customer a statement of account showing
payment of items for the account shall either return or make available to the
customer the items paid, copies of the items paid, or provide information in
the statement of account sufficient to allow the customer reasonably to
identify the items paid. Until January 1, 1998, the statement of account
provides sufficient information if the item is described by item number,
amount, and date of payment. If the bank does not return the items paid or
copies of the items paid, it shall provide in the statement of account the
telephone number that the customer may call to request an item or copy of an
item pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(b) If
the items are not returned to the customer, the person retaining the items
shall either retain the items or, if the items are destroyed, maintain the
capacity to furnish legible copies of the items until the expiration of seven
years after receipt of the items. A customer may request an item from the bank
that paid the item, and that bank must provide in a reasonable time either the
item or, if the item has been destroyed or is not otherwise obtainable, a
legible copy of the item. A bank shall provide, upon request and without
charge to the customer, at least ((five)) two items or copies of
items with respect to each statement of account sent to the customer. A bank
may charge fees for additional items or copies of items in accordance with RCW
30.22.230. Requests for ten items or less shall be processed and completed within
ten business days.
(c) If
a bank sends or makes available a statement of account or items pursuant to
subsection (a), the customer must exercise reasonable promptness in examining
the statement or the items to determine whether any payment was not authorized
because of an alteration of an item or because a purported signature by or on
behalf of the customer was not authorized. If, based on the statement or items
provided, the customer should reasonably have discovered the unauthorized
payment, the customer must promptly notify the bank of the relevant facts.
(d) If
the bank proves that the customer, failed with respect to an item, to comply
with the duties imposed on the customer by subsection (c) the customer is
precluded from asserting against the bank:
(1)
The customer's unauthorized signature or any alteration on the item, if the
bank also proves that it suffered a loss by reason of the failure; and
(2)
The customer's unauthorized signature or alteration by the same wrong-doer on
any other item paid in good faith by the bank if the payment was made before
the bank received notice from the customer of the unauthorized signature or
alteration and after the customer had been afforded a reasonable period of
time, not exceeding thirty days, in which to examine the item or statement of
account and notify the bank.
(e) If
subsection (d) applies and the customer proves that the bank failed to exercise
ordinary care in paying the item and that the failure substantially contributed
to loss, the loss is allocated between the customer precluded and the bank
asserting the preclusion according to the extent to which the failure of the
customer to comply with subsection (c) and the failure of the bank to exercise
ordinary care contributed to the loss. If the customer proves that the bank
did not pay the item in good faith, the preclusion under subsection (d) does
not apply.
(f)
Without regard to care or lack of care of either the customer or the bank, a
natural person whose account is primarily for personal, family, or household
purposes who does not within one year, and any other customer who does not
within sixty days, from the time the statement and items are made available to
the customer (subsection (a)) discover and report the customer's unauthorized
signature or any alteration on the face or back of the item or does not within
one year from that time discover and report any unauthorized indorsement is
precluded from asserting against the bank such unauthorized signature or
indorsement or such alteration. If there is a preclusion under this
subsection, the payor bank may not recover for breach of warranty under RCW
62A.4-208 with respect to the unauthorized signature or alteration to which the
preclusion applies.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. This act
is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or
safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1995.
