Opinion
April 25, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Orange County (Peter C. Patsalos, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the defendants' motion is granted, and the complaint is dismissed.
We agree with the defendants' contention that the plaintiff lacks standing to maintain an action pursuant to UCC 4-402 for wrongful dishonor of a check. UCC 4-402 provides that "[a] payor bank is liable to its customer for damages proximately caused by the wrongful dishonor of an item" (emphasis added). The term "customer" is defined in UCC 4-104 (1) (e) as "any person having an account with a bank or for whom a bank has agreed to collect items". Here, the record indicates that the plaintiff had an account with the Middletown Savings Bank, rather than with the defendant Key Bank of New York, N.A. or the defendant Key Bank of Eastern New York, N.A. Therefore, the action must be dismissed because the plaintiff was not a "customer" of the defendant banks within the meaning of UCC 4-402 (see, Quistgaard v EAB European Am. Bank Trust Co., 182 A.D.2d 510, 514; Agostino v Monticello Greenhouses, 166 A.D.2d 471; see also, Annotation, 88 ALR4th 613). Balletta, J.P., Rosenblatt, Miller and Friedmann, JJ., concur.