Lubbock-based Vista Bank dropped its $6 million lawsuit against FirstCapital on Monday afternoon and filed a brand-new lawsuit in federal court.
The new lawsuit asked for $6 million in actual damages plus $12 million to punish FirstCapital for a total demand of $18 million.
Vista originally sued FirstCapital on August 14. The allegations in the updated lawsuit are the same. It said the Reagor Dykes companies were engaged in check kiting which is a way of making a bank account look like it has money when that’s not the case.
Check kiting is illegal.
On July 31 Ford Motor Credit Company accused Reagor Dykes of defaulting on roughly $40 million. Later Ford accused Reagor Dykes of fraud. On August 1, a list of Reagor Dykes companies filed for bankruptcy.
Vista said Rick Dykes gave FirstCapital a heads up on the bankruptcy filing. It said FirstCapital used that information to manipulate the check-clearing process to make Vista take the loss on $6 million of bad checks from Reagor Dykes.
FirstCapital denied wrongdoing and said, “FirstCapital Bank utilized legally appropriate procedures available through the bank collection process to return checks presented by Vista Bank.”
The Reagor Dykes bankruptcy case was still pending Monday.
Late Monday afternoon, FirstCapital Bank released the following statement to EverythingLubbock.com:
“There is nothing new about this lawsuit and the allegations are again completely false and without merit. Vista Bank’s claims are no better in federal court than they were in state court.
The situation created by Reagor Dykes made FirstCapital Bank of Texas, Vista Bank, and many banks victims of fraud. Multiple details within the lawsuit are completely untrue, including the claim that Ken Burgess was present at a meeting on July 31, 2018. Also untrue is the allegation that FirstCapital knew about the situation before that date.
We took appropriate steps to protect our customers – as was the right of Vista Bank as well.
It is unfortunate that Vista Bank has resorted to this.”
