Atlas Automobile Finance Corp. v. Greenberg

39 Pa. D. & C. 539, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 251
CourtPennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County
DecidedJuly 8, 1940
Docketno. 456
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. D. & C. 539 (Atlas Automobile Finance Corp. v. Greenberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlas Automobile Finance Corp. v. Greenberg, 39 Pa. D. & C. 539, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 251 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1940).

Opinion

WiNNET, J.,

This is an action in replevin to recover possession of a Ford truck which plaintiff claims under a bailment lease assigned to it by Mid-City Motor Sales Inc. in which Herbert Greenberg, defendant, is the lessee. The writ was served on defendant and on the garage owner where the truck was stored, and on October 28, 1937, no counter-bond having been filed, it was delivered by the sheriff to plaintiff. Subsequently, Universal Credit Company allegedly in possession of the truck intervened as a party defendant and claimed its title and right to possession.

The truck involved was sold by Ford Motor Company to Mid-City Motor Sales Inc., a dealer in motor vehicles, under a conditional sale contract dated December 1, 1936, and filed of record in the prothonotary’s office on [541]*541December 9, 1936. The conditional sale contract was subsequently assigned to Universal Credit Company, the intervening defendant. The truck itself was left in the sales room of Mid-City Motor Sales Inc. under a “floor plan” arrangement which permits the dealer to sell the truck, with the understanding that the lien on the car is to be paid off from the proceeds of the sale.

Sometime in July of 1937 Mid-City Motor Sales Inc., the dealer, permitted defendant Herbert Greenberg to use this truck. He then decided to buy it and on August 31,1937, it was sold to him through the usual mechanics of a bailment lease. Delivery and acceptance of the truck is acknowledged by both the parties to the lease agreement. The lease itself was the same day assigned to plaintiff, Atlas Automobile Finance Corporation, which paid the dealer $570. That very same day an application was made by the dealer for a certificate of title which was forwarded to Harrisburg to the Department of Revenue, in which application the dealer stated there was no incumbrance on the truck and requested a certificate to be issued to defendant, Herbert Greenberg, subject to an incumbrance in favor of Atlas Automobile Finance Corporation, plaintiff, in the sum of $728.46. Such a certificate was in fact issued. Greenberg who had been using the truck left it with the dealer, Mid-City Motor Sales Inc., for the purpose of changing the body.

The dealer deposited the moneys which it received from Atlas Automobile Finance Corporation in its own bank account and did not pay off the incumbrance in favor of Universal Credit Company.

On September 10, 1937, while the truck was in the possession of the dealer for the purpose of the body changes, a voluntary petition in bankruptcy was filed and an adjudication entered as of that date. Universal Credit Company promptly filed a petition for reclamation in the Federal court and obtained possession of this truck upon the filing of a bond. Subsequently, on November 16,1937, an adjudication was entered on its petition and title to [542]*542the truck as well as to the motor vehicles which the dealer had in its possession under the “floor plan” was decreed in Universal Credit Company, intervening defendant. Plaintiff took no part in these proceedings, although it had knowledge of the bankruptcy of Mid-City Motor Sales Inc. and actually filed a petition to reclaim some other vehicles which it claimed, but not the truck involved in this suit.

Meanwhile, a default having occurred under the bailment lease of Greenberg, plaintiff brought this action of replevin and seized the truck while in the possession of Universal Credit Company, intervening defendant. It then applied for and obtained in its own name a certificate of title from the Department of Revenue.

Universal Credit Company contends: (1) That the sale to Greenberg, including the bailment lease, was fictitious and fraudulent in fact and also fraudulent in law, because there was no change of possession at the time of sale and bailment; (2) that the recorded conditional sales contract protected Universal’s prior rights in the truck, and (3) that its title and right to possession was adjudicated by the Federal court, by which adjudication plaintiff was bound.

In judging the transaction between the parties I am mindful of the mandate of Mr. Justice Schaffer in Root v. Republic Acceptance Corp., 279 Pa. 55, 57, wherein he says:

“The complicated dealings between many of those trafficking in and loaning money on automobiles has reached a point where the courts must strip transactions of their pretences and look at them as they really are, with the camouflage of papers giving a similitude of the passing of title removed, or they will be dealing with fictions instead of facts. Those who buy and sell, bail and loan money on motor vehicles must be given to under-' stand that the realities of their transactions will be sought for by the courts; they will look through the [543]*543screen of paper titles to ascertain what was the real situation.”

Looking at the reality of the transaction there was nothing out of the ordinary in it. It occurs in substance and in form hundreds of times daily throughout this city. The only thing out of the ordinary was the failure of Mid-City Motor Sales Inc., the dealer, to take the money, which it received through the sale of the truck and its financing, and pay off the lien of Universal Credit Company. No evidence was produced on which a finding could be made that the sale to Greenberg and the bailment lease were fictitious and fraudulent.

Nor is a finding of legal fraud justified by the facts. The pleadings admit that Greenberg, the purchaser, was in possession of the truck in July. He returned it to the dealer for the very purpose of buying it. He bought it and in the instrument which the parties executed they acknowledged delivery and acceptance of the truck. I must regard this as a sufficient delivery in law. Delivery does not consist in the mere transfer of location or custody of property. There must be in the mind of both parties concurring in the transfer in accordance with the contract, the intent of one to deliver and the other to receive: Jones v. Wands et al., 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 269. Greenberg then left the truck with the dealer for the purpose of making body changes.

I cannot arbitrarily disregard the statement in the contract and say that there was no delivery and acceptance; that the truck was not actually purchased by Greenberg; that the sale agreement was fictitious, particularly in view of the admission in the pleadings that Greenberg was in possession and using the truck even before the purchase.

Greenberg left the truck after its purchase with the dealer for the purpose of having body changes made. Defendant contends that, since the possession of Mid-City Motor Sales Inc. was not changed, no rights could be acquired by the purchaser, and cites in support Bower[544]*544sox v. Weigle & Myers, 77 Pa. Superior Ct. 367, Sunbury Finance Co., Inc., v. Boyd Motor Co. et al., 119 Pa. Superior Ct. 412, and Commercial Banking Corp. v. Active Loan Co. of Phila., 135 Pa. Superior Ct. 124. The question of change of possession was material in those cases because the rights involved were those of creditors of the vendor and innocent purchasers. Defendant does not occupy this position. By no means was Universal Credit Company in any way deceived, even if the possession was continued. It did not extend credit by reason of the ostensible ownership of the various machines on the floor of Mid-City Motor Sales Inc. It should anticipate that some of the vehicles might be left with the dealer for the purpose of repairs or body changes.

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Related

Commercial Banking Corp. v. Active Loan Co.
4 A.2d 616 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1938)
Sunbury Fin. Co., Inc. v. Boyd M. Co.
180 A. 108 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1935)
Bank of North America v. Penn Motor Car Co.
83 A. 622 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)
Siegfried v. Boyd
85 A. 72 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)
Root v. Republic Acceptance Corp.
123 A. 650 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1924)
Commercial Motors Mortgage Corp. v. Waters
124 A. 327 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1924)
Jones v. Wands
1 Pa. Super. 269 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1896)
Bowersox v. Weigle & Myers
77 Pa. Super. 367 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. D. & C. 539, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlas-automobile-finance-corp-v-greenberg-pamunictphila-1940.