Gabriel

In 1988, Hideo Yamamoto obtained a certificate of deposit from Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo), for approximately $1 million, and at the same time opened a savings account into which the interest from the certificate of deposit was to be paid. Although his wife, Kuniko Yamamoto, was named as a beneficiary of both accounts, she did not learn of their existence until 2007, 16 years after Hideo’s death. 1 Her discovery of a receipt for the certificate of deposit found in a safe deposit box—marked “not negotiable,” and stating that presentment of the receipt is unnecessary for withdrawal of funds—led to two actions now consolidated before us. In the first, Kuniko sued Wells Fargo, claiming that it failed to pay her the money in the accounts. In the second, her attorney, Michael Lynn Gabriel, brought a qui tarn action on behalf of the State of California against Wells Fargo, alleging that the bank violated the False Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 12650 et seq.) by failing to report the existence of these allegedly unpaid funds that should have been escheated to the state.

In Kuniko’s action against Wells Fargo, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the bank, finding…