Vermont Statutes Title 27 Sec. 1565
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 27 Sec. 1565
- Apparent owner: means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the owner of property held, issued, or owing by the holder. See
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Holder: means a person obligated to hold for the account of, or to deliver or pay to, the owner, property subject to this chapter. See
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Putative holder: means a person believed by the Administrator to be a holder, until the person pays or delivers to the Administrator property subject to this chapter or the Administrator or a court makes a final determination that the person is or is not a holder. See
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
§ 1565. Evidence of unpaid debt or undischarged obligation
(a) A record of a putative holder showing an unpaid debt or undischarged obligation is prima facie evidence of the debt or obligation.
(b) A putative holder may establish by a preponderance of the evidence that there is no unpaid debt or undischarged obligation for a debt or obligation described in subsection (a) of this section or that the debt or obligation was not, or no longer is, a fixed and certain obligation of the putative holder.
(c) A putative holder may overcome prima facie evidence under subsection (a) of this section by establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that a check, draft, or similar instrument was:
(1) issued as an unaccepted offer in settlement of an unliquidated amount;
(2) issued but later was replaced with another instrument because the earlier instrument was lost or contained an error that was corrected;
(3) issued to a party affiliated with the issuer;
(4) paid, satisfied, or discharged;
(5) issued in error;
(6) issued without consideration;
(7) issued but there was a failure of consideration;
(8) voided not later than 90 days after issuance for a valid business reason set forth in a contemporaneous record; or
(9) issued but not delivered to the third-party payee for a sufficient reason recorded within a reasonable time after issuance.
(d) In asserting a defense under this section, a putative holder may present evidence of a course of dealing between the putative holder and the apparent owner or of custom and practice. (Added 2019, No. 93 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2021.)