Anderson v. Oklahoma Moline Plow Co.

246 F. 743, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1406
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedOctober 15, 1917
DocketNo. 164
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 246 F. 743 (Anderson v. Oklahoma Moline Plow Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Oklahoma Moline Plow Co., 246 F. 743, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1406 (8th Cir. 1917).

Opinion

REED, District Judge.

The bankrupt, J. E. Terrell, was engaged in the general mercantile business in Texola, Beckham county, Okl., from some time prior to July 9, 1912, up to and including February 3, 1914, when an involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed against him upon which he was duly adjudicated a bankrupt on February 24th following, and the petitioner, Anderson, was in’due time appointed trustee in bankruptcy of his estate. ¡

On July 9 and again on Augusi 3, 1912, the bankrupt entered into separate written contracts with the Oklahoma Moline Plow Company, a corporation, for the conditional Isale by the plow company and purchase by the bankrupt of certain f'arm property described in said contracts which provide that the title; and right to the possession of the property shall remain in the plow cpmpany until the agreed price therefor shall be paid in full. The property so conditionally sold was delivered to the bankrupt about the date of the respective contracts, but they were not recorded until December 30, 1913, when they were duly filed for record in the proper county in which the property was situated. The petitioner as trustee, upon his appointment and qualification, took possession of the property of the bankrupt estate, also a part of the property so conditionally sold and delivered by the plow company to thé bankrupt. Between the date of the contracts, and the filing thereof for record, other persons became creditors of the bankrupt for goods sold to him on credit, but who have! no- lien upon the property described in the contracts, or any part of the bankrupt estate other than such lien, if any, as the petitioner may have- as trustee for their benefit under section 47a (2) of the Bankruptcy Act as amended June 25, 1910. The plow company not having been paid for the property, in due time filed its petition with the referee for an order requiring the trustee to return to it the property in his custody described in the conditional sale contracts. Upon a hearing of such petition the referee sustained the same and ordered the trustee to return such property to the plow company. Upon petition for review by the trustee, the order of the referee was approved by the judge, and the petitioner brings this proceeding to revise in matter of law the order so approving the order of the referee upon the ground; that under the Oklahoma statute the conditional sale contracts not having been filed foil record were void as against creditors of the bankrupt who became such prior to the recording of the contracts on December 30, 1913, though they have not by attachment or otherwise secured or fastened a lien upon the property, prior to' the bankruptcy. ¡

The questions for determination are:

(1) Are. the contracts of conditional sale void under the Oklahoma statute as to general creditors of the bankrupt' who became such between the date of such contracts and the filing of the same for record, [745]*745but who have acquired no lien upon the property by attachment or otherwise, prior to the bankruptcy ?

(2) Does the trustee in bankruptcy under section 47a (2) of the Bankruptcy Act as amended in 1910, acquire any greater rights in or to the property acquired by the bankrupt under conditional sale contracts made and to he performed in Oklahoma than the bankrupt has ?

[1] 'Jdre applicable provisions of the Oklahoma statute as appear in the Revised Daws of Oklahoma (1910) are:

“Sec. 2iji>4. In the absence oí fraud, every contract of a debtor is valid against all his creditors, existing or subsequent, who have not acquired a lien on tlio property affected by such contract.”
“Sec. -4031. A mortgage of personal property, is void as against creditors of the mortgagor, subsequent purchasers, and incumbrancers of the property, for value, unless the original, or an authenticated copy thereof, be filed by depositing the same in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the property mortgaged, or any part thereof, is at such time situated. * * * ”
“Sec. 0745. Any instrument in writing, or promissory note, evidencing the conditional sale of personal property, which retains the title to the same in the vendor until the purchase price is paid in full, shall bo void as against innocent purchasers, or the creditors of the vendee, unless the original instrument, or a true copy thereof, shall have been deposited in the office of the register of deeds in and for the county wherein the properly shall be kept; and when so deposited, it shall be subject to the law applicable to the filing of chattel mortgages; and any conditional, verbal sale of personal property, reserving to the vendor any title in the property sold, shall be void as to creditors and innocent purchasers for value.”

Counsel for each of the parties have filed extensive briefs citing many authorities in support of their respective contentions, to review all of which would unduly extend this opinion, and we deem it necessary to. refer in the main only to those which declare the law of Oklahoma atid construe the statutes of that state bearing upon the question involved.

There is no claim of any actual fraud between the plow company and the bankrupt in the making of these contracts, or in withholding them from record, and they are valid as between the parties though not filed for record; also as against creditors of the bankrupt existing at the time they were made, or who became such subsequent thereto, who have not acquired specific liens upon the property covered by the contracts prior to the bankruptcy (Revised Raws of Oklahoma [1910] § 2894, above; McCormick v. Koch, 8 Okl. 374, 58 Pac. 626, decided in 1899); and no title passed to the bankrupt until the purchase price of the properly was paid as specified in the contracts; (McIver v. Williamson Co. 19 Okl. 454, 92 Pac. 170, 13 L. R. A. [N. S.] 696, decided in 1907, and cases cited); nor had the bankrupt any attachable interest in the property covered by the contracts before the purchase price was paid (Lockwood v. Frisco Lumber Co., 22 Okl. 31, 97 Pac. 562, decided in 1908); nor have creditors without a lien upon the property any standing in court to challenge the title of the plow company to the property (Chandler v. Colcord, 1 Okl. 269, 32 Pac. 330, 335, decided in 1893).

That the contracts in question are valid as between the parties, though not recorded, cannot he successfully controverted, is also settled by repeated decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States [746]*746(Fosdick v. Schall, 99 U. S. 235, 250, 25 L. Ed. 339), even in states where under the local law they are to be treated in effect as chattel mortgages (Id., 99 U. S. 251, 25 L. Ed. 339; Harkness v. Russell, 118 U. S. 663, 7 Sup. Ct. 51, 30 L. Ed. 285; Bryant v. Swofford Brothers, 214 U. S. 279, 290, 291, 29 Sup. Ct. 614, 53 L. Ed. 997).

McIver v. Williamson Co., 19 Okl. 454, 92 Pac. 170, 13 L. R. A. (N. S.) 696, above, was replevin by the defendant Williamson Company wholesale grocers to recover certain groceries that it had sold and delivered to one Pickford, a retail dealer in groceries, under an agreement to be paid for upon delivery, but were not paid for.

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Bluebook (online)
246 F. 743, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-oklahoma-moline-plow-co-ca8-1917.