Banco de la Provincia v. BayBank Boston N.A.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
985 F. Supp. 364 (1997)
Banco de la Provincia (BPBA) (plaintiff) held a loan-proceeds account for Banco Feigin, which the Central Bank of Argentina placed under a solvency intervention. BPBA froze the account and, when Banco Feigin later requested a wire transfer of the roughly $245,000 balance to BayBank Boston (defendant), BPBA rejected the request, citing the freeze and its statutory right to set off Banco Feigin's debt against the funds; BPBA then exercised that set-off right. BayBank counterclaimed for conversion, arguing title to the funds passed to it once BPBA received the transfer request; BPBA moved for summary judgment.
Whether a receiving bank may be held liable under UCC Article 4-A for reasonably rejecting a payment order.