Illinois Valley Acceptance Corp. v. Woodard

The plaintiff-appellant (Acceptance) is appealing the denial of its attempt to collect upon a trade acceptance made by the defendant-appellee (Woodard). The primal issue raised concerns Acceptance’s status as a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument.

Woodard was a part time salesman for Moody Manufacturing Company (Moody), a manufacturer of grain bins and grain handling equipment. In May of 1966, Moody, as “borrower”, had entered into a Finance Agreement with Acceptance listed as “the lender”. This agreement made provision, among other things, for Moody to sell acceptable accounts to…