Bank May Be Liable for Elder Abuse

In Ginder v. Bank of America, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25562 (M.D. Fla. 2015), the court held that a bank could be liable for the failure to stop elder abuse arising from the draining of a senior’s bank account by an abuser. 

Mrs. Ginder, an 81-year-old woman, deposited her life savings into various Bank of America accounts, valued at about $175,000.  Mr. Knight, who is the alleged exploiter, portrayed himself as an employee of Bank of America and caused Mrs. Ginder to write checks and transfer funds to other people.  Mrs. Ginder argued that Bank of America opened suspicious activity reports on the accounts, but failed to notify her to stop the activity.  She also said that her daughter had been in contact with the bank and warned them of the activity. 

The court stated, “Plaintiff attempts to establish a duty by showing that BOA violated Florida’s Adult Protective Services Act (the “Act”).  In relevant part, the Act requires any bank ‘who knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a vulnerable adult has been or is being exploited’ to report such exploitation to the Florida Department of Children and Families.”  Thus, the court was able to infer that the bank was aware of Mrs. Ginder’s exploitation but failed to report it, consequently placing common law negligence on the bank for the abuse.

See Jeffrey Skatoff, Bank May be Liable for Failure to Stop Elder Abuse, Florida Probate Lawyers, March 9, 2015.