Opinion ID: 534895
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Accountability Under the Uniform Commercial Code

Text: 20 The plaintiff's action was premised on U.C.C. Sec. 4-213(1), which provides that when an item is finally paid by a payor bank, 2 the payor bank is accountable for the amount of the item. The defendant does not dispute that there was final payment, but basically argues that it accounted to the plaintiff because it did not return the check for insufficient funds prior to the statutory time when the provisional credit became final. We disagree with the plaintiff's strained interpretation of the term accountable. Because it returned the check unpaid, Far West Bank failed to account for the item. See 1 J. White, R. Summers, Uniform Commercial Code Sec. 17-2 (3rd ed 1988) (In some sense 'accountable' can be read as liable.) 3