a. What does "discharge" mean?
b. According to the court, what is the intent requirement of discharge?
c. Are Joe and Roberta liable to Evelyn on the notes?
File this case under: What parents will do for their children (whether or not they should). Wachovia Bank loaned Daniel Manley $420,000 and, in return, he gave the bank a promissory note in that amount. His father, Thomas, guaranteed payment of the note. Seven years later, Daniel stopped making payments, so Wachovia sent him a default notice. When he did not resume payments, the bank filed suit to collect the money owed.
At trial, Thomas testified that, shortly after Daniel received his first default notice, he had taken $375,000 in $100 bills to Wachovia as a payment on the note. Thomas further testified that he had asked for a receipt from the bank employee to whom he had given the cash but the employee had told him that a receipt would be mailed to him after the cash was counted. Thomas never got a receipt but, three months later, Daniel received the original note in the mail. It was in a Wachovia envelope and had been stamped "Paid."
Wachovia employees testified they had no record of a $375,000 cash payment and that the note had never been paid. Nor could they find the original note. They had no idea who had marked the note paid, or how Daniel had possession of it.
The jury did not believe Thomas .It found both Daniel and Thomas liable on the note .The father and son appealed. They argued that, because Wachovia had marked the note "paid," it had been discharged and they were no longer liable on it.