OPINION
*1 Upon consent of both parties, a trial was held before an arbitrator of the Civil Court. (22 NYCRR §208.41[n][2]). The Claimant, Jiming Lai, sought damages in the amount of $5000 for the Defendant’s failure to enforce the cancellation (commonly called a “stop payment”) of a check written by the Claimant. Based upon the evidence presented, the Claimant is awarded $530.00. The Claimant’s CaseThe Claimant wrote check #583 to a third party in April 2017 in the amount of $500.00. On April 20, 2017, he called the Defendant and requested a stop payment on the check so that the third party could not claim the funds. The entire conversation took place in the Chinese language.1 The Defendant charged the Claimant a $30.00 service charge for the stop payment while he remained on the phone. The Defendant’s representative assured the Claimant that the bank would not honor the check. The cancelled check introduced into evidence shows that the third party deposited the check on May 5, 2017, and on May 8, 2017, the Defendant honored the check and transferred $500 from the Claimant to the third party. The Defendant did not provide the Claimant with a reason for honoring the check and refused to even return the stop payment service charge. The Claimant also sought $4,470.00 in punitive damages for the stress of trying to recover the money from the check and service charge.The Defendant’s CaseSamuel Cheng, Vice President and Branch Manager for the Elmhurst branch of Cathay Bank, testified on behalf of the Defendant. Mr. Chang admitted that the Claimant did call to request a stop payment on April 20, 2017, but subsequently failed to follow the Defendant’s procedures as the Claimant agreed to do when he opened the account with Asia Bank.2 Specifically, an oral request to stop payment on a check only extends for fourteen days, unless the customer goes to a branch and fills out a written stop payment form which extends it for six months. The Claimant made the oral request and was allegedly told on the phone to come into the branch and fill out a written request, and the person who spoke with the Claimant on the phone prepared the form and held it at the branch for him to come in and sign. Mr. Cheng stated that he had no knowledge that the representative followed the procedure and gave this information to the Claimant, only that it was the Defendant’s usual procedure. Mr. Cheng introduced a blank stop payment form into evidence, which displays the terms for both an
