Baldwin v. Hays Asphalt Construction, Inc.

893 P.2d 275, 20 Kan. App. 2d 853, 28 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 697, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 60
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedApril 7, 1995
DocketNo. 71,834
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 893 P.2d 275 (Baldwin v. Hays Asphalt Construction, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baldwin v. Hays Asphalt Construction, Inc., 893 P.2d 275, 20 Kan. App. 2d 853, 28 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 697, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 60 (kanctapp 1995).

Opinion

Elliott, J.:

Ellis County Equipment Company (ECE) appeals the trial court’s ruling it did not have a security interest in certain assets of Hays Asphalt Construction, Inc. (HAC).

We reverse and remand.

The facts are essentially undisputed. Ed Baldwin d/b/a Budget Host Inn obtained a default judgment against HAC. The City of Ness City owed HAC money which Baldwin sought to garnish in order to collect his judgment.

ECE intervened in the garnishment, claiming a prior security interest in HAC’s accounts receivable. ECE claims it leased certain equipment to HAC and to secure HAC’s performance under the lease, ECE claims HAC gave it a security interest in, inter alia, its receivables. ECE produced three documents to support [854]*854its claim: a security agreement, a lease agreement, and a financing statement signed by HAC and filed with the Secretary of State.

The magistrate judge found ECE did not have a security interest in HAC’s receivables, and the district court ruled similarly on appeal.

ECE first argues the trial court erroneously ruled that a lease may not be secured with a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 9 security interest. We agree.

Interpretation of the UCC is a question of law, and thus our review is plenary. See City of Lakin v. Kansas Employment Security Bd. of Review, 19 Kan. App. 2d 188, 189, 865 P.2d 223 (1993).

Our commercial code applies to any transaction, regardless of form, intended to create a security interest in personal property. K.S.A. 84-9-102(l)(a). A security interest is an interest in personal property which secures payment or performance of an obligation. K.S.A. 84-1-201(37). Before a security interest can attach, the secured party must give value to the debtor. K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-203(l)(b). And a person gives value for rights if the person acquires them in return for any consideration sufficient to support a simple contract. K.S.A. 84-l-201(44)(d).

Clearly, under these provisions, a lease may be secured with an Article 9 security interest, which would or could secure the payment or performance of the lease obligations; the lease itself constitutes consideration sufficient to support a simple contract.

The Florida Court of Appeals, in a strikingly similar case, reached the same conclusion. There, the court applied the definition of “value” (identical to the Kansas definition) and held that although a lessor

“cannot be both an exclusive owner and a secured creditor concerning the leased equipment, there is nothing in the statutes or in logic which prevents [the lessor] from receiving a security interest in one property, i.e., the accounts receivable, to protect its ownership interest in another property, i.e., the leased equipment.” Bruno v. Fleet Credit Corp., 564 So. 2d 599, 600 (Fla. Dist. App. 1990).

The trial court’s ruling that a lease may be an obligation that can be the basis for a security interest conflicts with its ruling that ECE did not give HAC any value or consideration for the [855]*855security agreement. A lease may be secured with an Article 9 security interest, and ECE may secure its lease with a security interest in HAC’s receivables.

The trial court erred in ruling ECE did not give value or consideration for the security agreement.

The trial court also found that the documents produced by ECE do not show the parties intended to secure the lease. This issue is somewhat confused by what may or may not be a typographical error in dates on the documents, which became the centerpiece of ECE’s motion for reconsideration. We view the discrepancy of dates immaterial. But a few additional facts might prove helpful at this juncture. The security agreement is dated March 8, 1990, while the lease is dated in May 1992. The financing statement is not dated but was filed September 8, 1992 (as part of the motion for reconsideration, an affidavit was filed stating HAC was not organized until 1992).

Regardless, Baldwin claims ECE has no security interest in HAC’s receivables because there is no reference in one document to the other indicating that they were tied together.

A security agreement is simply an agreement which creates or provides for a security interest. K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-105(1). A security agreement is effective according to its terms between the parties, against purchasers of the collateral, and against creditors. K.S.A. 84-9-201.

Further, K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-203(1) provides:

“[A] security interest is not enforceable against the debtor or third parties with respect to the collateral and does not attach unless:
“(a) The collateral is in the possession of the secured party pursuant to agreement, or the debtor has signed a security agreement which contains a description of the collateral . . .;
“(b) value has been given; and
"(c) the debtor has rights in the collateral.”

These are the only three sections of the UCC dealing with the requirements of a security agreement. Nothing requires the security agreement to reference the underlying obligation, or vice versa, before the security will attach.

The only reference to describing the underlying transaction in a security agreement is found in the 1983 Kansas Comment to [856]*85684-9-203. That comment lists six items that a typical security agreement contains, including “a broad description of the obligations secured.”

Unfortunately, the only Kansas cases dealing with the issue all involve the meaning of “dragnet” or “anaconda” clauses — provisions attempting to secure all obligations between the debtor and the secured party.

In the present case, the security agreement contains a dragnet clause, but our cases interpreting those clauses do not help much here because they all concern real estate mortgages. Article 9 does not apply to liens on realty. K.S.A. 84-9-104(j); Ingram v. Ingram, 214 Kan. 415, 423, 521 P.2d 254 (1974).

The problem was at least recognized in In re Johnson, 105 Bankr. 661 (D. Kan. 1989), where the issue was whether the dragnet clause was adequate to sweep up a preexisting debt between the parties.

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Bluebook (online)
893 P.2d 275, 20 Kan. App. 2d 853, 28 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 697, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baldwin-v-hays-asphalt-construction-inc-kanctapp-1995.