The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

The Puzzle of the Starting Point of Late Payment Damages: A Review of Uniform Judicial Precedent No. 812 of the General Board of the Supreme Court

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Meghdad Momenianmasouleh 1
abbas niazi 2
1 Department of Commercial Law, Faculty of Law, Judicial Sciences and Administrative Services University, Tehran, Iran
2 Faculty of Law, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/analysis.2026.2078976.1151
Abstract
According to the interpretive opinion issued regarding the Note to Article 2 of the Check Issuance Act, a check holder may claim late payment damages, culculated on the basis of the inflation rate, from the maturity date of the check. However, judicial practice was fragmented regarding the determination of the starting point for such calculations. This inconsistency ultimately led to uniform judicial precedent No. 812 of 22 June 2021, rendered by the General Board of the Supreme Court, which established the check’s maturity date as the point of commencement for calculating late payment damages. Nevertheless, certain courts continue to construe the scope of this precedent narrowly in three situations: (1) where the claim is subject to the commercial statute of limitations; (2) where the holder has been tardy in seeking payment; and (3) where the check has been negotiated after the issuance of notice of non-payment.

A doctrinal and statutory analysis suggests that the commercial statute of limitations merely bars proceedings against certain parties liable on the instrument, without extinguishing the commercial nature of the check itself. Consequently, a time-barred check, provided that the conditions of Article 319 of the Commercial Act are satisfied, remains enforceable, at least with respect to late payment damages, by virtue of the privileges afforded to commercial instruments. Likewise, a holder’s delay in presenting the check or demanding payment does not, in itself, bar recovery of damages unless such delay is of a kind that, in ordinary legal reasoning, breaks the causal link between the obligor’s non-payment and the resulting loss. Furthermore, negotiation of a check after the issuance of a non-payment certificate, given the broad wording of the Note to Article 21 of the Check Issuance Act, which extends statutory privileges to the “final holder”, preserves the commercial efficacy of the instrument and renders the transferee a lawful holder. Ultimately, it must be said in all of these circumstances, notwithstanding the uniform judicial precedent late payment damages in principle from the cheque’s maturity date is recoverable. inasmuch as the said uniform judicial precedent has come to reduce the divergence of practice in this regard.
Keywords
Uniform judicial precedent No. 812
Late payment damages
Negotiation of a check
Commercial statute of limitations
The Principle of Iqdām
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