Bhaskar v. Farmers & Merchants Banks CA4/3
Bill Bhaskar and the medical practice he incorporated under his name, Bill Bhaskar, M.D., Inc., (collectively Bhaskar) appeal from an order of dismissal after the trial court sustained a demurrer by Farmers & Merchants Bank (F&M) without leave to amend certain causes of action in Bhaskar’s third amended complaint. The court granted Bhaskar leave to amend to plead other causes of action in a fourth and then a fifth amended complaint before ultimately sustaining F&M’s demurrer without leave to amend the fifth complaint. As we explain, Bhaskar’s third amended complaint stated a cause of action for common law negligence under Sun ‘n Sand, Inc. v. United California Bank (1978) 21 Cal.3d 671 (Sun ‘n Sand) when a person not indebted to a bank writes or endorses substantial checks to the bank as the payee of the checks, but the bank deposits the funds to a third party’s account without inquiry, enabling a fraud.
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