Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 51946-1-II Published Opinion.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 51946-1-II Published Opinion.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/D2%2051946-1-II%20Published%20Opinion.pdf ↗

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Each person who signs the “Certified/Agreed To” section of this Application
certifies that . . . [t]he Customer’s use of any [Bank] deposit account, product or
service will confirm the Customer’s receipt of, and agreement to be bound by, the
Bank’s applicable fee and information schedule and account agreement that
includes the Arbitration Agreement under which any dispute between the Customer
and the Bank relating to the Customer’s use of any Bank deposit account, product
or service will be decided.

Ex. 65 at 5, Ex. 78 at 4 (emphasis added). The “Certificate of Authority” also provided that

anyone who signed the application certified that he or she was authorized to act with respect to

the account and any agreements with Wells Fargo, to make payments from the account, and to

give instructions to Wells Fargo regarding the transaction of any business relating to the account.

Therefore, the bank account applications at issue here provided the foundation of legal liability

and had legal efficacy under the forgery statute.

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 51946-1-II

Accordingly, we hold that sufficient evidence supports the conclusion that Smith’s bank

account applications had legal efficacy.

4. Falsely Completed Bank Account Applications

Smith argues that even if the bank account applications had legal efficacy, the State failed

to establish that they were falsely completed. We disagree.

“To ‘falsely complete’ a written instrument means to transform an incomplete written

instrument into a complete one by adding or inserting matter, without the authority of anyone

entitled to grant it.” RCW 9A.60.010(4). Forgery does not include making false entries in an