Colorado § 4-2-511 - Tender of payment by buyer; payment by check; certification of payment in livestock transactions.

§ 4-2-511. Tender of payment by buyer; payment by check; certification of payment in livestock transactions.

(1) Unless otherwise agreed, tender of payment is a condition to the seller's duty to tender and complete any delivery.

(2) Tender of payment is sufficient when made by any means or in any manner current in the ordinary course of business, unless the seller demands payment in legal tender and gives any extension of time reasonably necessary to procure it.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this chapter on the effect of an instrument on an obligation (section 4-3-310), payment by check is conditional and is defeated as between the parties by dishonor of the check on due presentment.

(4) (a) When livestock have been delivered under a transaction of purchase and on the accompanying brand inspection certificate or memorandum of brand inspection certificate the seller has conspicuously noted that payment of the consideration for the transaction has not been received, the seller shall send a certificate of payment stating that payment has been made either within ten days after receipt of a check drawn and payable within the United States or, in any other case, within three business days after payment has been made.

(b) Unless otherwise agreed, when payment has been made, the buyer shall have a specifically enforceable right to the unqualified certification of payment from the seller and, where the seller has failed to provide the certification of payment in accordance with the provisions of this subsection (4), the seller will be deemed to have failed to make delivery of the livestock.

Source: L. 65: p. 1326, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 155-2-511. L. 75: (4) added, p. 233, § 4, effective June 20. L. 94: (3) amended, p. 905, § 5, effective January 1, 1995.

Editor's note - Colorado legislative change: Colorado added subsection (4). There is no counterpart to subsection (4) in the uniform act.

ANNOTATION

Purchaser receives voidable title when he pays by check. Under the UCC, the purchaser of goods in a cash sale transaction normally acquires full title to the goods which he purchases after payment is made, but the purchaser is limited to receiving a voidable title when the purchase price is conveyed in the form of a check. Guy Martin Buick, Inc. v. Colo. Springs Nat'l Bank, 184 Colo. 166, 519 P.2d 354 (1974).

Payment by check is conditional upon the check being honored at presentment. Guy Martin Buick, Inc. v. Colo. Springs Nat'l Bank, 32 Colo. App. 235, 511 P.2d 912 (1973), aff'd, 184 Colo. 166, 519 P.2d 354 (1974).

Payment by check is only conditional and is defeated by dishonor of the check on due presentment. Ranchers & Farmers Livestock Auction Co. v. Honey, 38 Colo. App. 69, 552 P.2d 313 (1976).

Payment by check is conditional only and does not discharge the liability for which payment is given, unless there is an express or implied agreement that the check be accepted as absolute payment. Bolz v. Sec. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 721 P.2d 1216 (Colo. App. 1986).

Such title dependent upon seller's power to transfer an interest in goods. The voidable title which a purchaser receives when payment is made by check is dependent upon the seller's power to transfer an interest in the goods conveyed. Guy Martin Buick, Inc. v. Colo. Springs Nat'l Bank, 184 Colo. 166, 519 P.2d 354 (1974).

Purchaser took voidable title on proper transfer of title certificates. Where before the seller presented the purchaser's check for collection, the certificates of title to automobiles were delivered to a bank as security for the bank's loan to the purchaser, in accordance with a security agreement between the purchaser and bank, it could be implied that the bank took possession of the certificates of title as the purchaser's agent. At the moment the seller delivered the certificates of title to the purchaser, through the bank as its agent, the requirements of § 42-6-108 were satisfied. Moreover, once the certificates of title were properly transferred, the purchaser was clothed with voidable title and could legally encumber the automobiles. Guy Martin Buick, Inc. v. Colo. Springs Nat'l Bank, 184 Colo. 166, 519 P.2d 354 (1974).