Metroland v. CIBC: 2001 Motion Decision

Ontario Supreme Court  

Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distribution Ltd. v. C.I.B.C.  

Date: 2001-05-03 

Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distribution Ltd., Plaintiff  

and  

2001 CanLII 28367 (ON SC)

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, The Bank of Nova Scotia and The  Toronto-Dominion Bank, Defendants 

Ontario Superior Court of Justice [Commercial List] Lederman J.  

Heard: March 30, 2001  

Judgment: May 3, 2001  

Docket: 00-CL-4048  

Reid Lester, for Plaintiff/Moving Party  

William J. Burden, for Defendants/Respondents  

Lederman J.: 

Background  

[1] The plaintiff, Metroland, moves for summary judgment against the defendants, Canadian  Imperial Bank of Commerce (the “CIBC” or “drawee bank”), and against the defendants,  Toronto-Dominion Bank (the “TD Bank”) and the Bank of Nova Scotia (“the collecting banks”).  The dispute involves a number of unauthorized cheques that were created by one of the  plaintiff’s employees, Sandra Latiff (“Latiff”). Latiff was the plaintiff’s Corporate Accounts  Payable Supervisor from 1989 until 1996. She was not an officer or director of the plaintiff and  at no time had signing authority with respect to cheques drawn by the plaintiff. As a payroll  clerk, Latiff would regularly enter data into the plaintiff’s computer system for the purpose of  meeting the plaintiff’s payroll obligations. The computer would then generate cheque forms  containing the relevant payee names and amounts. One of the plaintiff’s accounting clerks,  (i.e. not Latiff) would feed these cheque forms through a machine which would imprint an  authorized facsimile signature on each cheque. Generally, only cheques over $10,000.00  required manual signatures.