Lewis

Two elderly women, Jean P. MacLeod and Margaret Lewis, were separately swindled out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by telephone fraud artists who persuaded the women to write numerous personal, cashier’s, and teller’s checks, purportedly for investment in valuable coins and gems. MacLeod’s estate and Lewis each filed suit against the check cashing company that cashed most of the checks, the principals of a suspended corporation that received the proceeds of some of the checks, and several Doe defendants, charging them with RICO violations and fraud. Both plaintiffs also sued the banks that had sold, collected, or paid the checks, alleging, inter alia, breach of contract, breach of warranty, and conversion. The district court granted the banks’ motions to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). As a sanction for an alleged discovery violation, the district court excluded one of plaintiffs’ important witnesses. The plaintiffs dismissed with prejudice their remaining claims against the remaining defendants so that they could immediately appeal the district court’s exclusion of them witness.

MacLeod’s estate and Lewis appeal the district court’s dispositions in favor of the banks…