Brief Fact Summary. HSBC Bank USA, (Respondent) brought suit against F & M Bank Northern Virginia, (Petitioner) for breach of presentment warranty under U.C.C. Section:4-208(a)(2). Petitioner appeals judgment for Respondent.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. A company has exercised ordinary care in writing a check if the company has filled in the spaces sufficiently such that any alteration that was made was obvious.
A finding is clearly erroneous when the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Whether the district court’s finding that Allied Irish Bank exercised ordinary care in making out the check is clearly erroneous.
Held. No. The district court’s factual finding that Allied Irish Bank exercised ordinary care in making out the check is not clearly erroneous.
Discussion. Reviewing a copy of the check reveals that the district court’s rationale is logical. Since the written portion of the check contained enough writing such that the alteration could only be accomplished with the “scrawled up” abbreviated form of the word thousand, ordinary care was exercised in making out the check.