Check/partial payment with disclaimer. legal?

[BodieLand]

What is the name of your state? California

I did some work for a buisness and almost 3 months after I submitted my invoice to them they finally decided to send me a check. The problem is the check only covered part of what they owed me. On the check they hand wrote in the memo section "payment in full for services rendered as per invoice #xxxxx".

The owner of the business also included a letter with the check esentially saying the same thing, that if I cashed the check i accept it as payment in full.

After recieving this I sent him a demand letter. The demand letter gave him 2 weeks to pay the balance before I would file in smalll claims court. I recieved no official response from him but I did recieve a letter (near the end of the two week period) from some unknown person that esentially said even if I were to win a small claims judgement I wouldn't be able to collect. He listed a bunch of reasons for this. It was an attempt to get me to drop my suit. I'm 100% certain the letter was sent by the owner of the business though the letter suggested it came from someone else from another town. Anyway....

I went ahead and filed my claim with the court and shortly after he was served I recieved a registered letter from him. In the letter he gave me roughly 5 working days to accept the check that he already gave me and drop my suit OR he would issue a stop payment on the check and file a counter suit.

I felt like he was blackmailing me so I decided to black out part of the disclaimer he wrote in the memo section and cash the check. Initially the disclaimer read "payment in full for services rendered as per invoice #xxxxx". I blacked out everything in front of the word "invoice" and wrote above the black line "$xxx.xx balance due" so the memo section read "$xxx.xx balance due invoice #xxxxx" when i cashed the check.

I have no intention of cancelling my suit against him. I figured I might as well get part of what he owes me now and then let the judge final decision with regards to the balance he owes.

My question is, is the disclaimer he wrote on the front of the check legal and binding? The fact I crossed it out and wrote that he had a balnce due make any difference? Did I blow my chances of winning in court by cashing the check?

Thanks for your help.

 

[racer72]

The truly proper thing to have done would have been return the check. You have now opened a whole can of worms, it will depend if the judge accepts the voided restrictive endorsement. You have a 50/50 chance.

 

[JETX]

My question is, is the disclaimer he wrote on the front of the check legal and binding? The fact I crossed it out and wrote that he had a balnce due make any difference? Did I blow my chances of winning in court by cashing the check?

The following comes from CA Civ Code:
"1526. (a) Where a claim is disputed or unliquidated and a check or draft is tendered by the debtor in settlement thereof in full discharge of the claim, and the words "payment in full" or other words of similar meaning are notated on the check or draft, the acceptance of the check or draft does not constitute an accord and satisfaction if the creditor protests against accepting the tender in full payment by striking out or otherwise deleting that notation or
if the acceptance of the check or draft was inadvertent or without knowledge of the notation."

 

[BodieLand]

The following comes from CA Civ Code:
"1526. (a) Where a claim is disputed or unliquidated and a check or draft is tendered by the debtor in settlement thereof in full discharge of the claim, and the words "payment in full" or other words of similar meaning are notated on the check or draft, the acceptance of the check or draft does not constitute an accord and satisfaction if the creditor protests against accepting the tender in full payment by striking out or otherwise deleting that notation or
if the acceptance of the check or draft was inadvertent or without knowledge of the notation."

Wow, Thanks JETX, that was a huge help. Looking forward to the day this is all behind me. Thanks again for your help. It is very sincerely appreciated!