Reply: In nearly every State there is a statute declaring that the purchaser of goods to the value of $50 or more shall not be legally liable unless he signs a written contract or part of the price is paid or part of the goods are accepted. The wording of the statute in New York State is as follows: “Every agreement, promise or undertaking is void, unless some note or memorandum thereof be in writing, and subscribed by the party to be charged therewith, or by his lawful agent, if such agreement, promise or undertaking—is a contract for the sale of any goods, chattels or things in action for the price of $50 or more, and the buyer does not accept and receive part of such goods, or the evidences, or some of them, of such things in action, nor at the time pay any part of the purchase money.”
Opinion No. 65.
USING CHECKS MARKED “IN FULL SETTLEMENT.”
In connection with several claims recently handled by our Collection Department in Pennsylvania and the question of using checks marked “in full settlement” or “in settlement of all demands to date,” we have the following communication from a prominent attorney in Pennsylvania:
“I desire to state that it is elementary law that if pending the adjustment of a disputed claim, the debtor sends the money to his creditor in full payment of the demand, the latter cannot receive and retain it as a credit upon a larger sum claimed by him, without discharging the debtor as to the whole.
“123 Pa., p. 576. 147 Pa., p. 607. 70 Pa., p. 315.
“These cases have been decided by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the court of the last resort. Therefore it does not lie in the province of your members to cancel the words ‘in full settlement’ without destroying their right in respect to prevailing for the balance.
“I might further state that in the absence of any dispute in respect to any claim, the payment of a smaller amount will not operate to discharge the whole, because there is no accord and satisfaction; the absence of any dispute in respect to the amount being the material circumstances in this regard.”
Opinion No. 66.