AAA Auto Sales & Rental, Inc. v. Security Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n

845 P.2d 855, 114 N.M. 761, 19 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 923
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 1992
Docket12695
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 845 P.2d 855 (AAA Auto Sales & Rental, Inc. v. Security Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AAA Auto Sales & Rental, Inc. v. Security Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 845 P.2d 855, 114 N.M. 761, 19 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 923 (N.M. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

APODACA, Judge.

Security Federal Savings & Loan Association (Defendant) appeals the trial court’s dismissal of its counterclaim for failure to state a claim pursuant to SCRA 1986, 1-012(B)(6) (Repl.1992). The trial court certified its order as final, with appropriate language under SCRA 1986, 1-054(C)(1) (Repl.1992). The basic question underlying the issues raised on appeal is whether Defendant pled sufficient facts to allege the claim of conversion. We answer this question affirmatively, reverse the trial court’s decision, and remand with instructions to reinstate Defendant's counterclaim.

When this Court assigned this case to the general calendar, we requested the parties to brief the issue of who bore the burden of pleading facts concerning Plaintiff Ross A. McCallister’s (McCallister) status as a buyer in the ordinary course of business. However, in light of our disposition, we find it unnecessary to address this issue at this time.

FACTS

Defendant held a security agreement (Agreement) executed in September 1985 by D & D Motor Company, Inc., and securing a promissory note for $300,000 dated May 13, 1985, and due in May 1986. The Agreement granted Defendant a security interest in, among other things, all motor vehicles acquired by D & D Motor Company as inventory and all accounts and proceeds of sale arising from the sale of the motor vehicles. McCallister began working for D & D Motor Company in 1984, and between February 1, 1985, and October 15, 1985, was a 50% shareholder and the sales manager of that company. On October 15, 1985, McCallister terminated his relationship with D & D Motor Company and exchanged his stock for various properties, including some motor vehicles subject to the Agreement.

D & D Motor Company defaulted on the loans advanced by Defendant and filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. Defendant received and sold all the vehicles covered by the Agreement that remained in D & D Motor Company’s possession. After the sales, a deficiency of $280,000 remained on the indebtedness.

AAA Auto Sales & Rentals, Inc., McCallister, Nancy A. McCallister, and Daniel P. McCallister (collectively referred to as Plaintiffs) sued Defendant, alleging wrongful interference with contractual relations because Defendant did not deliver the certificates of title to the vehicles covered under the Agreement. Defendant answered the complaint and counterclaimed against Plaintiffs for conversion of the vehicles.

Plaintiffs moved to dismiss Defendant’s counterclaim under Rule 1-012(B)(6), alleging that Defendant had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed Defendant’s counterclaim for conversion. Defendant appealed. DISCUSSION

Initially, we address Plaintiffs’ contention that the appeal from the trial court’s dismissal for failure to state a claim was transmuted into an appeal from summary judgment by Defendant’s inclusion of a statement of facts in its brief-in-chief. As a result, Plaintiffs claim, the appropriate standard of review is that applied to summary judgment proceedings. However, Plaintiffs cite no authority for this argument. See In re Adoption of Doe, 100 N.M. 764, 765, 676 P.2d 1329, 1330 (1984). Additionally, there is no showing that matters outside the pleadings were considered by the trial court in the form of affidavits, depositions, admissions, or interrogatories indicating that the Rule 1-012(B)(6) motion was treated as a motion for summary judgment under SCRA 1986, 1-056 (Repl.1992). See R. 1-012(B). Consequently, we will consider this appeal under the appropriate standards for a Rule 1-012(B)(6) motion.

In reviewing the dismissal of a claim under Rule 1-012(B)(6) for failure to state a claim, the appellate court will “ ‘accept as true all facts well pleaded and question only whether the [party] might prevail under any state of facts provable under the claim.’ ” California First Bank v. State, 111 N.M. 64, 66, 801 P.2d 646, 648 (1990) (quoting Gomez v. Board of Educ., 85 N.M. 708, 710, 516 P.2d 679, 681 (1973)). A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is intended to test the legal sufficiency of the claim, not the facts that support it. Trujillo v. Berry, 106 N.M. 86, 87, 738 P.2d 1331, 1332 (Ct.App.), cert. denied sub nom. H & P Equip. Co. v. Berry, 106 N.M. 24, 738 P.2d 518 (1987). “The possibility of recovery based on a state of facts provable under the claim bars dismissal.” Id. 106 N.M. at 88, 738 P.2d at 1333. New Mexico construes the Rules of Civil Procedure liberally, particularly as they apply to pleadings. Las Luminarias of N.M. Council of the Blind v. Isengard, 92 N.M. 297, 300, 587 P.2d 444, 447 (Ct.App.1978).

Defendant alleged in its counterclaim that McCallister converted motor vehicles covered by the Agreement. “Conversion is defined as the unlawful exercise of dominion and control over personal property belonging to another in exclusion or defiance of the owner’s rights, or acts constituting an unauthorized and injurious use of another’s property, or a wrongful detention after demand has been made.” Nosker v. Trinity Land Co., 107 N.M. 333, 337-38, 757 P.2d 803, 807-08 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 107 N.M. 267, 755 P.2d 605 (1988). The trial court granted the motion to dismiss on the bases that the common law of conversion did not apply and that the Agreement did not exclude the transfer to McCallister.

A secured creditor may bring an action for conversion. State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Chrysler Credit Cory., 792 S.W.2d 626, 628 (Ky.Ct.App.1990); see also Ranier v. Gilford, 688 S.W.2d 753 (Ky.Ct.App.1985). NMSA 1978, Section 55-9-306(2) (Repl.Pamp.1987) states that, “[e]xcept where this article otherwise provides, a security interest continues in collateral notwithstanding sale, exchange or other disposition thereof unless the disposition was authorized by the secured party in the security agreement or otherwise, and also continues in any identifiable proceeds, including collections, received by the debtor.” The Official Comment to Section 55-9-306 states:

In most cases when a debtor makes an unauthorized disposition of collateral, the security interest * * * continues in the original collateral in the hands of the purchaser or other transferee. That is to say, since the transferee takes subject to the security interest, the secured party may repossess the collateral from [the transferee] or in an appropriate case maintain an action for conversion.

§ 55-9-306, cmt. 3. As noted in Harley-Davidson Motor Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
845 P.2d 855, 114 N.M. 761, 19 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aaa-auto-sales-rental-inc-v-security-federal-savings-loan-assn-nmctapp-1992.