# Wells Fargo Bank v. Superior Court

> California Supreme Court · June 27, 1991 · 53 Cal. 3d 1082

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9530726

## Case

- **Full name:** WELLS FARGO BANK, Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Respondent; BARBARA WERTZ, Real Party in Interest
- **Court:** California Supreme Court
- **Decided:** June 27, 1991
- **Citations:** 53 Cal. 3d 1082; 282 Cal. Rptr. 841; 811 P.2d 1025
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Mosk
- **Judges:** Lucas, Mosk, Kennard
- **Cited by:** 123 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9530726

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that “it has been established for almost a century that § 24 preempts all state law causes of action by a bank officer for breach of ah employment agreement”

## Opinion text

MOSK, J.,
Concurring.—Although the issue is not crystal clear, and both contentions have arguable merit, I conclude the concurring opinion of Justice Kennard is preferable.
It is obvious to me that, the bank did not consider these plaintiffs to be “other officers” within the meaning of the National Bank Act. The purported discharge of the plaintiffs was ordered, as the majority opinion concedes, *1105 “by more senior bank officers.” There is no rational way in which the bank could justify the discharge of officers by other officers.
Since the bank itself deemed these plaintiffs to be mere employees expendable at the direction of officers, there is no justification for this court to elevate the plaintiffs to the status of “other officers.”
Under these circumstances, the plaintiffs are not “other officers” and their claims are thus not preempted by the National Bank Act. Their rights should be determined under the laws of the State of California.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9530726. Public record. Not legal advice.