Posting NSF checks?

A restaurant near me posts copies of NSF checks on a bulletin board in their establishment. I am wondering is this a leal practice in the state of Missouri? These checks have been altered in no way, they still display the name, address, and account numbers of the people who wrote the checks, and in some cases even telephone and social security numbers.

With identity theft on the rise, you would thin that any of these people may be able to sue if the company is not willing to take the checks down.

Thanks.

Good post, I am curious to know this as well.

imo, the business could keep checks posted for other employees, in an area away from public view. They should send notice, and give a chance for the check writer to right the wrong, or handle it in the appropriate court.

I would say a check writer that was posted could talk with management, just to see what they thought. Other guys can tell ya more!

Great question. There would seem to be no defamation claim against the owner of the establishment since the NSF check is not defamatory material. It is fact. There are other issues to consider though:

- Are there confidential numbers on the check that should not be shown in public, e.g. routing numbers, account numbers, social security or home phone number?

- Might this be covered under a local law concerning the right of privacy? Apparently some jurisdictions do have a private facts tort, somewhat of an implied right of privacy under the constitution. However, having a list of names of NSF check passers could easily be seen as a legitimate right of an establishment and completely different than the well known "Red Kimono case" that is often cited for incorrect reasons on the Internet. In Melvin v.
Reid, the appellant, Gabrielle Melvin, had been a prostitute who was tried and acquitted for murder. Several years later a movie was made using her maiden name about her prior life and her current friends learned about this past life and she claimed significant damages as a result. The court concluded that the action by the defendants had violated Ms. Melvin's right "to pursue and obtain happiness." The court did decline to expressly decide the case as a general right to privacy, the learned Willam L. Prosser (well known legal scholar) called this a "private facts tort" right of action. This tort was similar to defamation as it contained "the same overtones of mental distress that are
present in libel and slander." This case held the defendant liable without any malicious intent and no false statements and may be identified as being a private matter of an individual that is not of legitimate concern to the public and is highly offensive to the reasonable person. I'm not sure that is the case here with an individual passing bad checks, a danger to others, versus an individual who worked as a prostitute. There are several jurisdictions that include this right to action besides California, apparently that being Minnesota -- but again, for very different reasons than are listed here. In Lake v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 582 N.W.2d 231, 235 (Minn. 1998) the court recognized a right of the plaintiff to sue the store when employees displayed nude pictures of the plaintiff that were the result of film brought into the store for development. Yet again, a very different case than a more "legitimate" reason for displaying the identification of recent bad check passers.

My off-the-cuff thought on this practice? If the checks are relatively current within the past months or years, I'd be hard pressed to find a right violated unless there is a clear law on this in some jurisdiction which I somehow missed. The cases I have found are much different in nature and reasoning... a very interesting question.

Perremin said:

A restaurant near me posts copies of NSF checks on a bulletin board in their establishment. I am wondering is this a leal practice in the state of Missouri? These checks have been altered in no way, they still display the name, address, and account numbers of the people who wrote the checks, and in some cases even telephone and social security numbers.

With identity theft on the rise, you would thin that any of these people may be able to sue if the company is not willing to take the checks down.

Thanks.

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