Citibank racist 911 transcript KingCast seeks beer summit with 911 dispatcher to explain the facts that Citibank left out: The Citibank 911 transcript and my new racket came in this weekend, a Wilson Surge to replace the defective Wilson K Pro Tour that cracked. That's a responsible corporation, living up to its word on customer service. Citibank is anything but that, having even refused my request to open an account, then claiming that it was okay for them to threaten to arrest me and not cash a legal malpractice settlement check I would have deposited into my account for Derrick Gillenwater.First of all a minor apology to Attorney Velella, as his letter claiming I swore prior to a 911 call is only partially incorrect -- it is however, entirely misleading:
The transcript I received (which will be scanned and linked by Monday -- in which Citibank convinces the dispatcher that our conduct was "outrageous") does not reflect the FIRST call to 911 that was made before our eyes at the teller window. Perhaps they did not connect with 911 but the threat of arrest was made at that time, even as I was asking the bank manager Carlo Carmanna to open an account in my name. He refused me for no lawful reason. I was fully qualified to open an account and cash Mr. Gillenwater’s check if the bank was going to refuse to cash it for a non-customer, which is questionable in the first instance because he was a Holder in Due Course with an instrument drawn on their bank.
Therefore, it was THAT call, plus the fact that the bank was:
a) reneging on its specific promise to pay the check once a new State Identification Card and birth certificate was provided as requested;
b) refusing to allow me to open a bank account even though I was most definitely qualified to open one, and even though they had opened an account for my Caucasian girlfriend., a violation of 42 U.S.C. 1981;
c) threatening to arrest me after I showed them the law of Your Style v. Mid Town Bank of Chicago, 501 N.E.2d 805 (1986).
Those facts did indeed cause me to call Carlo Caramanna a “Motherfucker,” but only AFTER he had dialed 911 and threatened to have us arrested.
It must be noted that given those circumstances there was nothing “outrageous” about us trying to cash the check that was drawn on Citibank. The dispatcher did not even ask that question and was playing lawyer making legal conclusions – based on the erroneous and incomplete representations issued by Citibank.
Let's be clear: I’m not blaming the 911 dispatcher, just offering to take him or her out to lunch and discuss what happened here -- although I'm certain the pigs at Citibank will try to say that I bought another racket to use it to threaten them or beat them up, you know that's how African-American men are. Dumb and Violent.
PS: It is pretty interesting that they description from the bank was all about “two African-american males,” and the female’s race was not even mentioned. They didn’t even get her hair colour right – it’s screaming red, not black – like Derrick and me.
That's why, in addition to initiating legal action in the next week or two, my lawyer and I will be contacting the Union of Minority Neighborhoods and Horace Small.
The mission of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods is to ensure that skilled, committed, grassroots leaders of color, effectively organize on issues of concern in their communities, regions and nation. Based in Boston, we bring our mission to life by:
Organizing
Developing new leaders
Building broad-based coalition
Our programs are constituent driven. Activists develop skills and then put these skills into practice by organizing on the issues that affect them.
Our goal is full civic engagement of people of color: no more second class citizenship, no more being a political afterthought, no more ineffective Black political leadership, no more needing well-meaning people speaking on our behalf.
One of the few reported decisions touching on this issue is Your Style Publications, Inc. v. Mid Town Bank & Trust Company of Chicago. In that case, Mid Town Bank had a policy of charging a 2% service fee for cashing checks for non-customers. Your Style maintained an account at MidTown Bank, and one of its employees sought to cash his payroll check there. The check appeared to be properly payable and Your Style's account had sufficient funds to cover the check. After the bank deducted its 2% service fee, both Your Style and the employee sued MidTown alleging wrongful dishonor, breach of contract, misrepresentation, and breach of contract as to third party beneficiaries.
ReplyDeleteThe court began by finding that the bank had, in fact, dishonored the check by refusing to cash it without deducting the service fee.
It then held that dishonor to be wrongful because the check was otherwise properly payable and the account contained sufficient funds.