Court Opinion

ID: 9733265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:00:45.18029+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:40.057133
License: Public Domain

DONIELSON, Judge
(dissenting).
Statutory language is to be construed according to its approved and common meaning. § 4.1(2), The Code. In my view, the result reached by the majority ignores this rule of construction.
Section 715.6, Supplement to the Code 1977, provides:
The use of a financial instrument with the intent to obtain fraudulently anything of value by one who knows that the instrument is not what it purports to be, or who knows that he or she is not the person nor the authorized agent of the person who, as shown on the instrument, has the right to so use the instrument, shall constitute the false use of a financial instrument.
Id. (emphasis added). Common meaning would indicate that the words “person . .. shown on the instrument” refer to a person whose name appears on the instrument. In the case at bar, the only name “shown on the instrument” was that of John Knowles. One who attempted to negotiate the check with the actual knowledge that he was neither John Knowles nor the person authorized by John Knowles to use the check would violate section 715.6. Defendant admitted during the plea proceedings that he possessed this knowledge at the time he attempted to cash the check. I would therefore conclude that a factual basis existed to support defendant’s conviction upon a guilty plea under section 715.6.
It is true that this was a bearer instrument and that as such it was payable to the bearer and could be negotiated by delivery alone. § 554.3204(2), The Code. However, because section 715.6 specifically addresses the situation where the name of the person entitled to use the check appears on the instrument, I fail to see the relevance of the fact that this was a bearer instrument. The only relevant consideration is that the name of John Knowles was the one shown on the instrument and that the defendant knew at the time that he was neither John Knowles nor authorized by John Knowles to negotiate the check. In light of these facts, the conviction should be affirmed.