Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth dismissed the case against Cormer Bank and the Graham Thompson law firm over a mystery bank account allegedly holding $14 million.
Lamberth ruled Monday that it wasn’t for him to answer such questions because his court simply didn’t have jurisdiction to resolve the dispute.
Known for his colorful use of language, Lamberth appears to have enjoyed writing the 13-page decision that threw out the case. Here is his introduction, in full:
“Fourteen million dollars can make people do crazy things,” the opinion begins. “According to plaintiff Tonya Kay Day, $14 million motivated a Swiss bank and its Bahamian subsidiary to bury any evidence of a bank account opened by a Kansas woman and her oil-baron lover in the 1970s, triggered a vitriolic assault against Ms. Day by the bank’s manager in response to her attempts to uncover the truth, led the largest law firm in the Bahamas to engage in a duplicitous scheme to dupe Ms. Day into revealing personal confidences, and launched a public smear campaign in the Bahamian media.”
Lamberth said the court documents read “straight out of a Hollywood script – or at least a second-rate mystery novel.”
A Las Vegas woman, Tonya Day, had accused Corner Bank and the Graham Thompson law firm of covering up the existence of a $14 million account that she claims belonged to her now-deceased mother.
Lamberth dismissed the case because it had no ties to Washington, D.C. Setting aside judgment on the merits of the case, Lamberth wrote, “the District of Columbia has no role to play in a dispute pitting a Nevada citizen against a Swiss bank and its Bahamas-based subsidiary, manager and law firm.”
