Oops. Lost Passbook Costs Utah Lawyer Up to $832,000
Back in the day when a savings account required a passbook in which the bank manually entered each deposit and withdrawal, a client of Ogden, Utah, attorney George B. Handy established one that named Handy as trustee and deposited $150,000. Then the client died in a plane crash.
More than 30 years later, shortly after the turn of the century, Handy, who is now 84, discovered the passbook for the 1971 account and sought to withdraw the funds. With interest, the account could now be worth as much as $832,000, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
But the bank refused to pay him the money, saying that there was no proof it was his, and a trial court judge agreed. Yesterday, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld its verdict on behalf of the United States National Bank of Oregon.
“In the case before us, there is absolutely no evidence establishing Handy as the owner of the account, even though his name is the only name on the passbook,” explains Judge Gregory Orme in the appeals court’s written opinion.
