Stern v. Gad

Jose Stern, defendant below, appeals a final judgment in favor of Amnon Gad, Personal Representative of the Estate of Juan Francisco Vargas. We reverse.

Stern and, until his demise, Vargas, were both Colombian emerald dealers who transacted business in that country and in other locations throughout the world. Stern and the decedent did business with each other until decedent’s demise in 1985. Although the two ordinarily transacted business in Colombian pesos, in 1983 they agreed to transact certain emerald business in dollars. Payment for the dollar transactions, which we will refer to as the…