PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK vs. HON. ROMULO S.

QUIMPO and
FRANCISCO S. GOZON II
G.R. No. L-53194 March 14, 1988
GANCAYCO, J.
FACTS:
Santos took respondent Gozon’s passbook without the latter’s
knowledge and proceeded to fill it up for P5,000. Santos also forged Gozon’s
signature. Santos then encashed the check and the amount was debited to
Gozon’s account; Gozon then requested from the bank that the amount be
returned to his account. The bank refused thus Gozon filed a petition which
the court ruled in favor of. Hence, this petition
ISSUE: Was Gozon negligent in leaving his passbook in the car with Santos?
RULING:
No, a bank is bound to know the signatures of its customers; and if it
pays a forged check, it must be considered as making the payment out of its
own funds, and cannot ordinarily change the amount so paid to the account
of the depositor whose name was forged.
There were marked differences in Santos’s forgery and Gozon’s actual
signature and PNB was negligent in encashing said forged check without
carefully examining the signature which shows marked variation from the
genuine signature of private respondent.
The court ruled that the act of plaintiff in leaving his checkbook in the
car while he went out for a short while cannot be considered negligence
sufficient to excuse the defendant bank from its own negligence. Defendant
had trust in his classmate and friend. He had no reason to suspect that the
latter would breach that trust.