Mary Mansi claims that eighteen checks on her account contain forgeries but were paid by the defendant bank, Sterling National Bank. The checks bore signatures which, according to the plaintiff's handwriting expert, were apparently ‘‘written by another person who attempted to simulate her signature'' and thus were not considered obvious forgeries.
Sterling National Bank acknowledged that while it did honor those eighteen checks, nine of them were returned to the plaintiff more than one year prior to this action.
The defendant asserts that the plaintiff's claims on the remaining nine checks are barred due to her failure to examine her monthly bank statements. Who should prevail? Why?