So are we responsible ?

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Question:

We sent a check out in our cash letter, and the check number was encoded wrong. That is it, nothing else. When the makers bank received the check, they paid it. Then days later they realized that check had a stop on it. The stop was on ck# 1855. We sent the check to that bank with no check number at all. Our machines did not pick it up. They are wanting us to pay them back for the check because we sent it out without the check number, however they missed the stop too. The check suspected and they failed to notice the check number was not correct and it had a stop on it.

Answer:

If, as you said, the check appeared on "stop suspects" report when it was posted, the paying bank had an opportunity to compare its stop payment records and the check image (assuming they were able to pull up an image) to verify the stop applied to the check, and timely return it unpaid.

I suggest that's a good argument for not honoring the paying bank's request or its claim against your bank's encoding warranty, whichever they submitted