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68 Me. 579

White v. Gray

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Decided December 27, 1878

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1878-12-27

<p> Contract. Promissory notes. Defense. Accord and satisfaction. </p> <p>A defense "based on an alleged accord and satisfaction can be sustained only wlion tlic accord has been completely executed. Neither an offer to perform, nor an actual tender of performance, is sufficient. Nothing short of actual performance — meaning thereby, performance accepted — will sustain such a defense.</p> <p>The debtor’s remedy, if the creditor has wrongfully refused to accept performance, is a separate action upon the agreement.</p> <p>The distinction between an agreement which is, per se, to satisfy and extinguish an existing debt, and an agreement, the performance of which is to have that effect, must not, be overlooked. The former operates as an immediate satisfaction of' the debt. The latter, only when performed.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1878-12-27

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently September 1940

8 state decisions

2018781880189019001910192019301940decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

"WaltoN, J.

¶1Plaintiff held a note against defendants for $800. Defendants were insolvent and were endeavoring to compound with their creditors. In consideration of which, the plaintiff agreed Unit, if their efforts were successful, he would take in payment of his note a lot of land, and new notes for $500, payable, one-half in one year, and one-half in two years. Defendants’ efforts were successful, and they offered to settle with the plaintiff upon the terms stated in the agreement; but he refused, denying all liability under his agreement, and claiming the full amount due upon his note. No deed of the land was ever executed, nor were the notes mentioned in the agreement ever made or tendered to the plaintiff.

¶2The question is whether these facts constitute a valid ground of defense to an action on the note. We think not.

¶3It is settled law in this state that a defense based on an alleged accord and satisfaction can be sustained only when the accord has been completely executed. Neither an offer to perform nor an actual tender of performance is sufficient. Nothing short of actual performance — meaning thereby, performance accepted— *580will sustain sucli a defense. The debtor’s remedy, if the creditor has wrongfully refused to accept performance, is a separate action upon the agreement. Young v. Jones, 64 Maine, 563. Bragg v. Pierce, 53 Maine, 65. Cushing v. Wyman, 44 Maine, 121.

¶4The agreement which, in the case first cited, failed as a ground of defense, was successful when made the ground of a separate action. Mattocks v. Young, 66 Maine, 459.

¶5The distinction between an agreement which is, per se, to satisi’y and extinguish an existing debt, and an agreement, the performance of which is to have that effect, must not bo overlooked. The former operates as an immediate satisfaction of the debt. The latter, only when performed. The agreement set up as a defense in this case is clearly of the latter kind.

¶6Judgment for plaintiff.

AppletoN, C. J., Barrows, Daneorth, Peters and Libbey, JJ., concurred.
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