De Castro & Co. v. Liberty Steamship of Panama

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Alameda County by defendant George H. Coeotos. The appeal of the defendant Liberty Steamship has heretofore been dismissed.

The plaintiff is a foreign corporation which performs services in assisting vessels to pass through the Suez Canal. The defendant Liberty Steamship was a charterer of two ships, the “Hastedt” and the “Ganges.” The defendants sent plaintiff two checks on different dates to pay for passage of these ships through the canal, which were signed:

The checks were duly presented for payment. One was not paid because of insufficient funds and the other because payment had been stopped by defendants. Proper steps as to protest were taken and this action followed.

Plaintiff’s complaint against the defendants contains the usual allegations in actions upon a negotiable instrument, among which are that the defendants duly made and delivered the checks to the plaintiff, which are then set forth in Jiaec verba. The defendants in their answer admitted the making and delivery of the checks but denied they had been issued for a consideration and affirmatively alleged that they had been issued for canal tolls on ships…