American State Bank v. Swearingen (In Re Swearingen)

27 B.R. 379
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Kansas
DecidedFebruary 9, 1983
Docket19-10134
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 27 B.R. 379 (American State Bank v. Swearingen (In Re Swearingen)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American State Bank v. Swearingen (In Re Swearingen), 27 B.R. 379 (Kan. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BENJAMIN E. FRANKLIN, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter came on for final hearing on August 19, 1982, upon plaintiff’s Complaint for Relief from Stay. Plaintiff, American State Bank, appeared by its attorney, Betsy B. Patrick. Debtors-defendants, Hal and Annabelle Swearingen, appeared in person and by their attorney, Mary L. Stuckey, of Speer, Austin, Holliday, Lane & Ruddick. The trustee did not appear. The Court granted judgment to the Bank with respect to two Chevrolets and inventory; but directed that the stay remain in effect until the Court determined the validity of the Bank’s alleged lien on the debtors’ mobile home, also described as 1972 Hillcrest Trailer, Serial No. HK 3569F.

Thereafter, on September 9, 1982, the debtors filed a Motion for summary judgment and Memorandum in support thereof. The Bank filed a Reply and Memorandum in opposition. The debtors filed a response to the Bank’s reply. The Bank then filed an Affidavit purporting to raise a material issue of fact.

The Motion for Summary Judgment again came on for hearing on October 7, 1982, at which time the Court took it under advisement.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on the pleadings, memoranda, affidavit and the file herein, the Court finds that the following facts are undisputed:

1. That the Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter; and that venue is proper. 1

2. That the Bank loaned the debtors $15,670.80 on January 8, 1982. On that same date both debtors executed a note, security agreement and financing statement. The security agreement listed as collateral a 1972 Chevrolet pickup, and 1976 Chevrolet automobile and all inventory at Ann’s Place. The financing statement listed only the inventory. However, the Bank’s lien was duly noted on the titles of both Chevrolets.

3. That neither the note, security agreement or financing statement mentioned a 1972 Hillcrest trailer mobile home that was the debtors’ residence. The only written document concerning the mobile home was an application of certificate of title. The application was signed by Ann Swearingen only, although the debtors were married at that time.

4. That the application for certificate of title on the mobile home was received by the Kansas Department of Revenue on March 24, 1982, after the March 18, 1982 *382 filing of the debtors’ Chapter 7 petition; and the certificate of title was issued on April 9, 1982.

5. That the loan proceeds were not used to purchase the mobile home.

6. That both debtors signed and submitted to the Bank a financial statement dated January 7, 1982, which included the mobile home as an asset with a value of $8,000.00.

That the only disputed matter is whether the debtors intended to create a security interest in the mobile home.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I.

Bankruptcy Rule 756 follows Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which states in pertinent part:

“Rule 56. Summary Judgment.
(c) Motion and Proceedings Thereon. ... The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law....”

An adversary proceeding is ripe for summary judgment when there is no genuine issue as to a material fact. Thus, where factual issues are spurious or irrelevant the motion for summary judgment should be resolved. Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System, 368 U.S. 464, 82 S.Ct. 486, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962); Bolack v. Underwood, 340 F.2d 816 (10th Cir.1965).

The sole factual issue raised herein is whether the debtors intended to grant the Bank a security interest in the mobile home. This issue is material only if the parties’ intent is relevant in determining the existence of a valid enforceable security interest. The Uniform Commercial Code provides that certain requisites must be met for an enforceable security agreement: it must be in writing; signed by the debtor(s); it must describe the collateral (or reasonably identify it, K.S.A. 84-9-110); value must be given; and the debtor must have rights in the collateral. K.S.A. 84-9-203. The official comment to § 9-203 states that in light of these minimal requisites, courts should not let creditors establish secured status by pa-rol evidence.

“¶ 5. ... The theory of equitable mortgage, insofar as it has operated to allow creditors to enforce informal security agreements against debtors, may well have developed as a necessary escape from the elaborate requirements of execution, acknowledgement and the like which the nineteenth century chattel mortgage acts vainly relied on as a deterrent to fraud. Since this Article reduces formal requisites to a minimum, the doctrine is no longer necessary or useful. More harm than good would result from allowing creditors to establish a secured status by parol evidence after they have neglected the simple formality of obtaining a signed writing.”

A number of courts have followed the drafter’s suggestion and applied the parol evidence rule in the construction of security agreements. The parol evidence rule, simply stated, is absent fraud, mistake, or accident, parol evidence is inadmissible to vary, add to, or contradict the terms of a valid written instrument that is on its face, complete and unambiguous. 69 AmJur 2d Secured Transactions § 275.

In In re Mitchell, 458 F.2d 700 (10th Cir.1972), the Court held that the bankruptcy referee erred when he admitted parol evidence of the bank’s intent to take a security interest in inventory, accounts receivable and contract rights. There, one section of the security agreement listed the collateral and another section classified the collateral generically. The parties failed to list inventory, accounts receivable and contract rights as collateral in the first section of the security agreement; but they did check boxes corresponding to such classifications in the second section of the security agreement. The court found that the first section was an exclusive list of collateral, complete and unambiguous on its face. The *383 court refused to consider parol evidence that the parties inadvertently failed to list all intended collateral therein.

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Bluebook (online)
27 B.R. 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-state-bank-v-swearingen-in-re-swearingen-ksb-1983.