This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

D incurred debts totaling $22,000 over a two-day period in 1991 while gambling at Caesar's Tahoe casino in Nevada. D wrote the casino two personal checks for $2,000 and $10,000. D also executed two memoranda of indebtedness for $5,000 each. In exchange for the checks and memoranda, D received chips, which he lost playing the game of baccarat. D subsequently stopped payment on the checks and memoranda, which were drawn on his account at a Redwood City bank. Nevada law makes credit instruments evidencing gambling debts owed to licensed persons, and the debts represented, valid and enforceable by legal process. Gambling debts were previously unenforceable in the Nevada state courts. The casino assigned its claims to P for collection, and P sued D in California, filing a complaint in municipal court in San Mateo County. The court rendered judgment for D, ruling that under established public policy his gambling debts were unenforceable in California. The Appellate Department of the San Mateo County Superior Court affirmed. P appealed.

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