Grain Traders, Inc. v. Citibank, N.A.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
960 F. Supp. 784 (1997)
Grain Traders (plaintiff) issued a payment order through its bank BCN to send $310,000 through a chain including Citibank (defendant), then BCI, then Extrader, ultimately to Kraemer's account. Citibank properly debited BCN's account and credited BCI's account, completing its own link in the chain, but then froze BCI's overdrawn Citibank account, preventing BCI from completing the next step of the transfer. Grain Traders sued Citibank directly for a refund, arguing Citibank should have rejected the payment order given BCI's known financial troubles and had improperly used the funds to set off BCI's debt; both sides moved for summary judgment.
Whether a party to a funds transfer is entitled to a refund from anyone other than the specific party to which payment was made.