Chance World Trading E.C. v. Heritage Bank of Commerce

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Defendant Heritage Bank of Commerce moves for summary judgment on plaintiff Chance World Trading’s sole remaining cause of action, aiding and abetting a fraud. For the reasons set forth below, the court grants the motion.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Except where otherwise noted, the following facts are undisputed: Distant relatives Rajeev Sawhney and Rani Yadav-Ranjan embarked together on a business venture. Mr. Sawhney agreed that his company, Chance World Trading E.C., would finance technical testing of Ms. Ya-dav-Ranjan’s product idea. Construction Navigator, Inc., of which Ms. Yadav-Ran-jan was the president, was to be the vehicle for this venture. Chance World agreed to invest an initial $200,000 in Construction Navigator. The investment agreement was memorialized in a term sheet, which specified that the $200,000 was to be used solely for the limited purposes of technical development and testing of Ms. Yadav-Ranjan’s idea.

Construction Navigator opened a checking account with Heritage Bank of Commerce. There were three designated signors on the account: Rani Yadav-Ranjan, Rajeev Sawhney, and Poonam Sawhney (Mr. Sawhney’s…