13 Pa.C.S. § 3417 Presentment Warranties

• Library: Pennsylvania Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.A. Acts 23-35
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 13 Pa.C.S. § 3417

(a) Statement of warranties.--If an unaccepted draft is presented to the drawee for payment or acceptance and the drawee pays or accepts the draft, the person obtaining payment or acceptance, at the time of presentment, and a previous transferor of the draft, at the time of transfer, warrant to the drawee making payment or accepting the draft in good faith that:

(1) the warrantor is, or was, at the time the warrantor transferred the draft, a person entitled to enforce the draft or authorized to obtain payment or acceptance of the draft on behalf of a person entitled to enforce the draft;

(2) the draft has not been altered; and

(3) the warrantor has no knowledge that the signature of the drawer of the draft is unauthorized.

(b) Damages for breach of warranty.--A drawee making payment may recover from any warrantor damages for breach of warranty equal to the amount paid by the drawee less the amount the drawee received or is entitled to receive from the drawer because of the payment. In addition, the drawee is entitled to compensation for expenses and loss of interest resulting from the breach. The right of the drawee to recover damages under this subsection is not affected by any failure of the drawee to exercise ordinary care in making payment. If the drawee accepts the draft, breach of warranty is a defense to the obligation of the acceptor. If the acceptor makes payment with respect to the draft, the acceptor is entitled to recover from any warrantor for breach of warranty the amounts stated in this subsection.

(c) Defense.--If a drawee asserts a claim for breach of warranty under subsection (a) based on an unauthorized indorsement of the draft or an alteration of the draft, the warrantor may defend by proving that the indorsement is effective under section 3404 (relating to impostors; fictitious payees) or 3405 (relating to employer's responsibility for fraudulent indorsement by employee) or the drawer is precluded under section 3406 (relating to negligence contributing to forged signature or alteration of instrument) or 4406 (relating to duty of customer to discover and report unauthorized signature or alteration) from asserting against the drawee the unauthorized indorsement or alteration.