Legal Factoid...
G. Bradley Hargrave, Esq.
Lost Checks
Occasionally, a check accepted as payment is lost, stolen or destroyed. The simplest resolution is to request the drawer to issue a replacement check or make some alternative payment arrangement. In the event the drawer resists this sensible solution, however, the payee (or its assignee) should take comfort in his or her ability to enforce the missing instrument.
The 1990 UCC, adopted in a majority of jurisdictions, provides that a person not in possession of an instrument is entitled to its enforcement if he or she had possession and was entitled to enforce it when the loss occurred, its loss was not the result of a transfer by such person and he or she cannot reasonably obtain possession because the instrument was destroyed, its whereabouts cannot be determined or it is in the wrongful possession of an unknown person or one not amenable to service of process.
In such a situation, the Court will require proof of the check's terms and must make a determination that the person required to pay the instrument is adequately protected against a double payment. If these conditions are satisfied, the lost or misplaced check may be enforced as if the loss had not occurred.
