In Greenberg, Trager & Herbst, LLP v. HSBC Bank USA (17 NY3d 565), the plaintiff, a law firm, received an email from Northlink Industrial Limited ("Northlink"), a Hong Kong company, looking for legal representation to collect debts owed by its North American customers. The plaintiff agreed to represent Northlink and requested a $10,000 retainer. Northlink sent Greenberg, Trager & Herbst ("GTH") a Citibank check from a Northlink customer in the amount of $197,750 with instructions to take its $10,000 retainer out of the check and wire the balance to Citibank in Hong Kong. GTH deposited the check into its attorney trust account at HSBC on Friday, September 21, 2007. HSBC provisionally credited GTH's account in the amount of $197,750 on the next business day, Monday, September 24, 2007. HSBC sent the check to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia for presentment to Citibank. Citibank rejected the check because the routing number was not recognized by its automated sorting system and sent the check back to HSBC the next day, September 25, 2007. HSBC repaired the routing number; determined that the check belonged to Citbank, Las Vegas; and sent it to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. On September 27, 2007, in response to an inquiry by GTH regarding whether the check had "cleared," HSBC advised GTH that the funds were "available." Later that day, GTH wired $187,750 from its account to Hong Kong pursuant to Northlink's instructions. On September 28, 2007, HSBC confirmed to GTH that the wire transfer had been consummated. On October 2, 2007, HSBC received a notice from Citibank that the check had been dishonored as "suspect counterfeit" and so advised GTH. HSBC then revoked its provisional settlement and charged back GTH's account. GTH commenced an action against HSBC and Citibank sounding in negligence and negligent misrepresentation. GTH claimed that Citibank was negligent in breaching its obligation to implement effective procedures for detecting counterfeit checks and that HSBC was negligent for failing to inform GTH and charge back the check when it was first returned by Citibank on September 25, 2007. GTH also claimed that HSBC negligently misrepresented to it that the check had cleared and that the funds were available for transfer. Both HSBC and Citibank moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, which was granted by the Supreme Court. The Appellate Division affirmed, as did the Court of Appeals (Pigott, J., dissenting in part). The Court of Appeals applied the Uniform Commercial Code to the negligence claims to find that they were properly dismissed. As for the negligent-misrepresentation claim, the Court found that GTH's reliance on HSBC's statement that the check had "cleared" was unreasonable as a matter of law. Finally, the Court rejected GTH's estoppel argument. Finding that neither Citibank nor HSBC had breached any duty owed to GTH, the Court agreed with the Appellate Division that GTH was in the best position to guard against the risk of a counterfeit check by knowing its client. In Greenberg, GTH argued that HSBC was its agent pursuant to UCC 4-201 and, as such, owed it a fiduciary duty. In rejecting this argument, the Court of Appeals noted that the purpose of UCC 4-201 is not to impose a fiduciary duty on a collecting bank and that, until the collecting bank receives final payment, the risk of loss is upon the owner of the item rather than the bank (Id. at 579). The Court went on to say that GTH's claim of negligent misrepresentation could not succeed because it was based on an alleged oral statement by an HSBC representative that the check had "cleared." The court found this remark to be ambiguous in that HSBC may have intended it to mean only that the amount of the check was available (which it was) in GTH's account. Accordingly, the Court found GTH's reliance on the remark to be unreasonable as a matter of law (Id.).