A lender was given a check to secure a loan. The lender completed the date on the check and attempted to cash it approximately 10 years after the check was handed and approximately 7 years after the loan was defaulted but the check bounced due to the closing of the account from which it was drawn.
The Court rejected the lender's claim and held that a check which details were filled out after a decade should not be enforced. Under Israeli law, the holder of a banknote that lacks an essential condition may fill in the deficiency as much as it sees fit "within a reasonable time and exactly according to the authorization given". Here, the lender demanded his friend's widow to pay the amount of the check many years after the loan was due. The widow did not give permission to the lender to fill in the details of the check and the completion of the payment date approximately 10 years after the check was handed and several years after payments for the loan were not paid to the lender, do not constitute a "reasonable time". Therefore, the check will not be honored.