RUESCH INTERNATIONAL INC v. CITY SUBURBAN FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK (2006)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Jane S. Solomon, J.), entered November 2, 2005, awarding plaintiff the principal sum of $105,000, unanimously affirmed, with costs.   Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered October 20, 2005, which granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in lieu of complaint, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the judgment.

This action was amenable to summary relief because plaintiff adequately established defendant's obligation to repay funds it had paid to defendant on a check dishonored by the drawee bank, and defendant's failure to make payment thereon (see DDS Partners v. Celenza, 6 A.D.3d 347, 775 N.Y.S.2d 319 [2004] ).   The purported defense of having processed the check in a timely fashion and in good faith (UCC 3-419[3] ) is unavailing because the conversion here was not between a depositary bank and a true owner, but rather between a bank and a non-banking institution to which it had negotiated a check (cf. Moore v. Richmond Hill Sav. Bank, 117 A.D.2d 27, 502 N.Y.S.2d 202 [1986] ).