Casterline v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.

195 Pa. Super. 344
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 15, 1961
DocketAppeals, Nos. 4, 5, and 6
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 195 Pa. Super. 344 (Casterline v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casterline v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 195 Pa. Super. 344 (Pa. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

Opinion by

Flood, J.,

This case requires us to determine the competing claims to an automobile asserted by the defendant, the assignee of a New York conditional sales contract, and the plaintiffs who are subsequent purchasers of the car in Pennsylvania.

The problem arises out of the following sequence of events:

On October 14, 1957, in New York, Old Reliable Motors Sales sold the car to Jules Simon on a condi[347]*347tional sales contract and assigned the contract .to General Motors Acceptance Corporation, the defendant.

Later that day Simon transferred title to the car to John E. Schwartz, who thereupon obtained a New York passenger vehicle registration certificate in his own name.

Still later on the same day, Schwartz drove the car from New York to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and there sold and delivered it to the Casterlines, the plaintiffs. He also executed an assignment on the New York registration certificate and delivered it to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs paid Schwartz $2,530 for the car and at the time of the purchase they had no notice of any lien, encumbrance or interest which the defendant may have had in the car.

On the next day, October 15, 1957, the plaintiffs applied for a Pennsylvania certificate of title for the car, and in the course of their business, sold it to Reverend Leo A. Burns, who obtained a new Pennsylvania Title Certificate for the car.

On October 21, 1957, the defendant filed the conditional sales contract in Bronx County, New York.

On December 5, 1957, no payments having been made under the conditional sales contract, the defendant repossessed the car from Father Burns without court proceedings, as it was entitled to do under New York law.

Thereafter Father Burns. notified the plaintiffs of the repossession and requested them to rescind the sale and repay the purchase price to him.

On December 12, 1957, after the defendant had refused to redeliver the car-to Father Burns, plaintiffs rescinded the sale to Father Burns, refunded the full amount of consideration paid by him, and thereafter on January 12, 1958, brought this action in replevin against the defendant, seeking possession of the car or the cost of replacing it.

[348]*3481. The original sale in New York was governed by the New York Conditional Sales Act, 40 McKinney’s Personal Property Law, §§60-81, which requires no notation' of the security interest on the title certificate, and no notation thereof appeared on the title certificate delivered to the plaintiffs by Schwartz. Section 64 of this act provides that any provision in a conditional sale reserving property in the seller shall be valid as to all persons except as otherwise provided in the act. Section 65 makes the conditional sale void as to any purchaser from or creditor of, the buyer who, without notice, purchases the goods or acquires a lien thereon by levy or attachment before the contract or a: copy thereof is filed, unless the contract or copy is filed within ten days after the conditional sale. The only other limitation on the conditional seller’s rights is contained in Section 69, which provides that when the conditional seller expressly or impliedly consents that the buyer may resell the goods prior to the performance of the condition, the reservation of property shall be void as against purchasers from the buyer for value in the ordinary course of business, even though the contract or a copy is properly filed.1

Since there is nothing in the stipulation to indicate that in the original sale to Jules Simon, there was any implied or express consent that Simon might resell and no statement that Simon was a dealer, the defendant’s security interest was valid against all. persons under the New York law since the contract was filed within ten days of the conditional sale. Its interest would not prevail over the plaintiff if it had been created in [349]*349Pennsylvania because of the absence of a notation on tbe title certificate, as required by tbe Uniform Commercial Code, Act of April 6, 1953, P. L. 3, §9-302, 12 A. PS §9-302; 2 Motor Vehicle Code, Act of May 1, 1929, P. L. 905, Art. II, §203(b), as amended by the Act of May 18, 1949, P. L. 1412, §3, which was in effect when these transactions took place and which is identical in this respect with Section 203 of the revised Motor Vehicle Code, Act of April 29, 1959, P. L. 58, §203 (b), 75 PS §203(b). 3

The determination as to law governing the right of the parties depends upon the conflict of laws rules in Pennsylvania, the jurisdiction in which the property was located when it was replevied. 14 C.J.S., Chattel Mortgages, §14, p. 606. The applicable conflict of laws rule is therefore found in the Uniform Commercial Code itself, in §9-103(3), 12A PS 9-103(3), which provides :

“(3) If personal property is already subject to a security interest when it is brought into this state, the validity of the security interest is to be determined by the law of the jurisdiction where the property was when the security interest attached, unless the parties understood at that time that the property would be kept in this state and it was brought here within thirty days thereafter for purposes other than transportation through this state. If the security interest was already [350]*350perfected under the law of the jurisdiction where the property was kept before being brought into this state, the security interest continues perfected here for four months and also thereafter if within the four month period it is perfected here. The security interest may also be perfected here after the expiration of the four month period; in such case perfection dates from the time of perfection in this state. If the security interest was not perfected under the law of the jurisdiction where the property was kept before being brought into this state, it may be perfected here; in such case perfection dates from the time of perfection in this state.”

Plaintiffs claim that the security interest, even though valid under the first sentence of §9-103(3) above, had not been perfected, as required under the later sentences of that subsection to give it priority over them, when the car was brought into Pennsylvania. They argue that at the time it was brought into this state and sold to the plaintiffs, the conditional sale contract had not yet been filed in New York and therefore all the steps necessary to perfection had not then taken place.

The defendant contends, and the court below held, that the security interest must be considered as having been perfected when the car was brought into Pennsylvania since the contract was thereafter filed in New York within the time limit provided in the New York Conditional Sales Act.

The question then is whether the security interest is “perfected” as that word is used in Article 9-103(3) of the Commercial Code, when the car is brought into Pennsylvania before all the steps necessary to protect the secured creditor in New York have been taken, but also before the time for taking those steps under the New York Act has expired, and those steps are later taken in New York within the prescribed time.

[351]*3512. The word “perfect” is not used in the NeAV York Conditional Sales Act.

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Bluebook (online)
195 Pa. Super. 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casterline-v-general-motors-acceptance-corp-pasuperct-1961.