Court Favors Small Business in eBanking Fraud Case
Comerica Bank is liable for more than a half a million dollars stolen in a 2009 cyber heist against a small business, a Michigan court ruled. Experts say the decision is likely to spur additional lawsuits from other victims that have been closely watching the case.
Judge Patrick J. Duggan found that Dallas-based Comerica failed to act “in good faith” in January 2009, January 2009, when it processed almost 100 wire transfers within a few hours from the account of Experi-Metal Inc. (EMI), a custom metals shop based in Sterling Heights, Mich. The transfers that were not recovered amounted to $560,000.
“A bank dealing fairly with its customer, under these circumstances, would have detected and/or stopped the fraudulent wire activity earlier,” Duggan wrote. Judge Duggan has yet to decide how much Comerica will have to pay.
