Talk Continues in Legal Tussle

A few days after our story on admitted embezzler Kimberly O’Dell ran, we got a call from David Estes, the chairman and CEO of First State Bank of Lonoke. He took exception to a sentence in the article stating O’Dell stole from two dormant accounts her client Tom Terminella had at the bank and for which she did not have signatory authority. The statement was made by Robert Ginnaven, Terminella’s attorney.

Citing a judge’s ruling, Estes said O’Dell did have signatory authority on the accounts, which he said were “far from dormant.”

We took a look at the ruling in the countersuit Terminella filed against FSB claiming the bank improperly paid forged checks and unauthorized wire transfers from the accounts. The ruling by Circuit Judge Doug Martin on Jan. 27, 2010, doesn’t address either the matter of signatory authority or whether the accounts were active or dormant.

The ruling simply stated Terminella can’t make a claim against FSB for the stolen funds because the thefts weren’t reported within the 60-day limit stipulated in the deposit agreement.