Phil & Kathy's Inc. v. Safra National Bank
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
595 F. Supp. 2d 330 (2009)
P&K (plaintiff) submitted a $1.5 million payment order that misidentified the beneficiary account, making it impossible for Safra (defendant) to execute; after being notified, P&K's bank Harris sent a second corrected order naming a different beneficiary, "Blue," and Safra credited Blue's account on that second order, then also credited another $1.5 million to Blue days later based on Harris's repeated requests to amend the original, unexecutable first order. P&K sued Safra to recover the funds from the first order, arguing it was automatically void by operation of law due to the mistaken beneficiary, and Safra moved to dismiss, arguing the order had simply been properly amended.
Whether, under UCC Article 4A, a payment order that cannot be executed due to a mistake is automatically void.