Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

This is the classic unjust enrichment scenario from Contracts and Remedies. I suggest you get the money from the guy who wasn't entitled to your return in the first place. You wouldn't get it from the IRS, they didn't do anything wrong, and deposited it into the account number that you gave them. The same reasoning applies to the bank.

Mr. Roach may be wrong. This must happen often enough that the IRS has some policy and proceedures on it. I would start there. If they say "tough luck" then you have to track down and sue the person who took your money. The bank is completely innocent and has battalions of lawyers to throw at you. So don't waste your time there.

I would approach this from both ends - i.e., the IRS and the person who got the money. This is not the first time this has happened and the IRS should be able to help you, especially if you can identify the person who got the money. Try the Taxpayer Advocate's Office. You should also try and contact the person who got the money. While you can't make threats of any kind in order to collect money owed to you, if they know that the IRS is infolved they may decide that it is not worth it and just give you the money back. Finally, you should talk to the Bank again. If they deposited money identified as for you in an account with someone elses name, even if the account number was what you told the IRS, you might be able to get them to help you.

Good luck and be more careful next time.

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