intestate on February 26, 1996. James Glodt, a nephew of Margaret Glodt's predeceased spouse, filed a petition for letters of administration on April 2, 1996. Mac filed a competing petition on April 29 on behalf of Margaret Glodt's blood relatives. Mac was appointed administrator of the estate on September 4, 1996. James Glodt, who had his aunt's checkbooks when she died, refused to turn them over to Mac when Mac requested them after her appointment as administrator. Mac visited all the banks within six blocks of Margaret Glodt's home, and discovered two checking accounts with Bank of America and one with Wells Fargo. Mac closed the accounts on November 27, 1996. Some time later, she ordered statements for each account. She received statements from both banks around Februaryof 1997. For the first time, she learned that most of the funds had been withdrawn from the accounts around the time of Margaret Glodt's death. Mac obtained copies of the checks, submitted them to a documents expert, and learned they were forgeries. James Glodt had forged two Wells Fargo checks on February 12, 1996, and two more on February 15, for a total of $35,603.47. He also forged Bank of America checks on February 12 and 15, amounting to $75,000. All these checks cleared Margaret Glodt's bank accounts during the period from March to May, 1996.
Mac unsuccessfully demanded that the banks replace the funds misappropriated by James Glodt. On November 26, 1997, she filed a complaint against James Glodt and the banks, alleging causes of action for