stop payment

I had a contractor do some work on my house which he never finished so I stopped payment on the check I gave him. In turn he went to a check cashing store and cashed the check. The check cashing store called me and told me that I had to send them the money or they were going to take me to court. I told them I didn't issue the check to them and it was not me but the party that they cashed the check for whom they should contact. I live in New Jersey, can you tell me if I was legally correct in my assumptions.

Thank you

I am not form NJ but in my experience elesewhere, they can go after him and/or take you to court. You would claim that there was a failure of consideration so you had the right to stop payment, and possibly cross claim against the contractor.

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ALawyer: I don't mean to be rude, but what type of lawyer are you? Your conclusion is basically right, but the result is going to be the same in every jurisdiction that has adopted the UCC (all but Louisiana, I think). This is the 'Holder in Due Course' rule. The store is a holder of a negotiable instrument that was properly negotiated. They took for value, in good faith, and w/o notice of problems, therefore, they teake free from personal defenses (failure of consideration), and are subject onyl to real defenses. But, that was good practice for my bar exam in 3 weeks.