Our club had an account with Washington Mutual Bank, which was taken over by Chase Bank. We did not use our account for two years. During this time our treasurer did not receive a statement. The bank said they sent a letter, which they can't produce now, that told us they were closing our account and sending it to the State of California. Can we sue them for the amount we had in our account which was over $1800.00? We wrote a check for a dinner we had and it bounced because we did not know they had closed our account.

Our club had an account with Washington Mutual Bank which was taken over by Chase Bank. We had not used our account for two years, during that time our treasurer did not receive any statements. He asked several times for a statement but they always brushed him off. They said they sent a letter telling us they were closing our account but we never received this letter. When ask for a copy of the letter they could not produce one. Our funds were sent to the State of California. Can we sue them for the balance in our account which was over $1800.00
In small claims court?

Yes, you can sue a bank in small claims court.

Will you win? Probably not. What they did is probably covered in the fine print of your depositer agreement.

If the finds were deposited with the state, your best bet is to find out how to collect them from the state.

A few questions:
This dinner you wrote to the restaurant: was this a club function?

And what does your treasurer give as an explanation for his/her failure to get a bank statement? If they brushed him off he should have insisted on an answer. Appears to be a case of treasurer malfeasance.

Have you asked the state about the return of the money ?

Search "escheat" at your state's web-site.

Yes, the check was for a club function. As for the statement, he kept asking but never got an answer. He also never got the letter they supposedly sent. He is a very conscientious individual and a businessman. This particular bank has given him the run around. We currently have a form, given to us by the bank, submitted to the state. We are getting no information from them.