Doctors sue bank over stolen checks

After a former employee embezzled $165,000, Brookfield Pediatrics L.L.C. has sued Bank of America Corp., claiming the bank should have raised a red flag over checks the employee had been cashing.

The Brookfield physician practice did not immediately specify damages it is seeking.

According to Brookfield Pediatrics, a data-entry clerk routinely pocketed checks as they arrived from insurance companies, endorsed them with “Brookfield Pediatrics” and deposited them in a personal checking account at a Bank of America branch in Brookfield. The employee was able to conceal the scheme for a period by crediting accounts as “paid” in the practice”™s data base.

In all, the employee deposited 300 checks worth $165,000, according to Brookfield Pediatrics. Bank of America breached a duty under Connecticut”™s Uniform Commercial Code to “exercise ordinary care” in handling the checks, Brookfield Pediatrics claims, by repeatedly accepting for deposit checks that were “clearly and obviously” made payable to a commercial business entity.