John Walker, plaintiff in error, brought a case against the President and Directors of the Bank of Washington, defendant in error. The dispute arose from an agreement between John Walker and the bank for him to purchase stock at a certain price. However, when he attempted to pay for it with notes issued by another bank that had failed shortly before his transaction with the Bank of Washington was made, they refused to accept them as payment. As such, John Walker argued that since he had already agreed on a price prior to this other bank's failure and could not have foreseen its collapse or known that his notes would be worthless after it happened; therefore he should still be able to make good on his promise without any penalty or additional cost due from him. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with John Walker ruling that even though these notes were now valueless due their issuer’s insolvency; because there was no fault found on either party’s part regarding this situation then neither should suffer any loss as result thereof.

In this case, the plaintiff John Walker argued that he was entitled to a judgment against the defendant Bank of Washington for an amount due on a promissory note. The Supreme Court disagreed and held that there was no evidence in the record to support his claim. The majority opinion reasoned that since Walker had not presented any proof of payment or other evidence showing satisfaction of the debt, he could not recover from the bank. Justice McLean dissented from this decision and argued that although there may have been some technical defects in Walker's pleadings, they should be disregarded as immaterial because it appeared clear from all circumstances surrounding his suit against the bank that he had paid off his debt prior to filing suit. He further noted that even if such technicalities were considered important enough to warrant dismissal of Walker's action, then at least equitable relief should be granted by allowing him credit for payments made before trial began so as to prevent injustice being done upon him.