The Consolidated Bank v. Court of Appeals

Summary

L.C. Diaz accounting firm's messenger left their passbook with Solidbank Teller No. 6 during a deposit transaction. The teller negligently gave the passbook to an unauthorized person instead of returning it to the messenger. An impostor later used the passbook and forged withdrawal slip to withdraw P300,000. The Supreme Court held this was culpa contractual, finding Solidbank breached its fiduciary duty by failing to return the passbook to the authorized representative. While banks have no duty to call depositors for verification, they must exercise high standards of diligence in safeguarding depositors' property. The Court applied contributory negligence, allocating 60% liability to Solidbank and 40% to L.C. Diaz, recognizing both parties' fault in the unauthorized withdrawal incident.