Connecticut Printers, Inc. v. Gus Kroesen, Inc.

This cause originated in the Municipal Court for the Alameda County Oakland-Piedmont Judicial District. Upon a judgment of that court for the above-named defendants (hereafter, for convenience, Kroesen), plaintiff Connecticut Printers, Incorporated, appealed to the Appellate Department of the Superior Court of Alameda County.

On its certification by the appellate department of the superior court under rule 63, California Rules of Court, we accepted a transfer of the appeal as necessary to secure uniformity of decision or to settle important questions of law.

It had long been the rule of this state, “that where a claim is disputed or unliquidated and the tender of a check or draft in settlement thereof is of such character as to give the creditor notice that it must be accepted ‘in full discharge of his claim’ or not at all, the retention and use of such check or draft constitute an accord and satisfaction ...; and it is immaterial that the ‘creditor protests against accepting the tender in full payment’ ..., for in such case ‘the law permits but two alternatives, either reject or accept in accordance with the condition’ . . . . ” (Potter v. Pacific Coast Lumber Co.…