Stowell v. Cloquet Co-op Credit Union

Respondent opened a savings and draft account with Petitioner and signed a Draft Withdrawal Agreement. The agreement provided in part that Respondent had 20 days from mailing to object to items on the Draft Account statement before the accuracy of the items were considered final. Respondent read and understood this agreement. Between December of 1992 and September of 1993, Robert Nelson stole and forged several checks belonging to Respondent as well as the Petitioner’s issued statements. Respondent complained repeatedly to Petitioner that he had not received the statements but failed to take any other action. In September of 1993 Respondent received a telephone call from the Finlayson State Bank informing him that a check he had written to Robert Nelson had bounced. Because he had never written any checks to Robert Nelson, Respondent became suspicious and notified police and Petitioner. Upon reviewing the account statements both parties realized that Robert Nelson had forged fifty checks in the amount of approximately $22,000 from Respondent’s account. When Petitioner refused to reimburse him, Respondent brought this suit.