First Nat. Bank of Vinita v. Guess

1919 OK 69, 179 P. 29, 72 Okla. 125, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 326
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 4, 1919
Docket8410
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1919 OK 69 (First Nat. Bank of Vinita v. Guess) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Nat. Bank of Vinita v. Guess, 1919 OK 69, 179 P. 29, 72 Okla. 125, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 326 (Okla. 1919).

Opinion

SHARP, J.

To secure an indebtedness in the sum of $275 in the form of a promissory note dated January 20, 1914, on the day following, D. F. Cantrell executed to the First National Bank of AHnila a chattel mortgage on a span of mules, wagon, and harness then located in Delaware county, Okla., which mortgage was filed in the office of the register of deeds of Delaware county on February 2, 1914. Not later than January 24, 1914 the mules were removed by Cantrell from Delaware county to near Locust Grove in Mayes county, where they remained until the bringing of the plaintiff’s action on September 22, 1914. On either the 3d or 4th of June, intervening the date of the removal and institution of the action, the mortgagor-Cantrell sold the mules to defendant Guess. who1 on the day of the purchase, in Mayes county, executed a chattel mortgage on the mules and a wagon and set -of harness, which mortgage was filed in the office of the county cleric of Mayes county on the day following its execution. Cantrell defaulted in payment of the note to the Vinita bank and on July 27, 1914, left for parts unknown. The issues presented involve the rights of the mortgagees under their respective mortgages. There is little, if any, conflict in the evidence. No point was máde in the lower court or here that the validity of the mortgage to the Vinita bank was affected by the failure of the mortgagee to file its mortgage in Delaware county prior to the removal of the mortgaged property therefrom.

The principal point relied on for reversal is, as stated in the brief of plaintiff in error :

“The plaintiff in error contends it was the duty of the court to direct the verdict in its ravor fqr the reason the undisputed evidence showed they were never located within the meaning of the law in Mayes county until Guess bought them and Cantrell parted with their possession.”

Section 4031, Rev. Laws, fixes the place of registry of a chattel mortgage. It is there provided that—

“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.”

It is urged, as already indicated, that the mortgaged chattels were not removed from Delaware county and permanently located in Mayes county, so as to necessitate the refiling of the chattel mortgage in Mayes county as required in section 4032, Rev. Laws. It is said in support of this contention that Cantrell was at all times prior to July1 27, 1914, a resident of Delaware county, and, as we understand, that the situs cf the mortgaged, property was in the county or place of the mortgagor’s residence. The place of residence of a mortgagor of personal property is not controlling, either under section 4031, fixing the county in which a mortgage must be' filed in the first instance, or by section 4032, providing for the refiling of a chattel mortgage where the mortgaged chattel is moved from one county to another of the state. The latter statute provides in effect that, when property covered by a chattel mortgage is moved from one county to another, any previous filing of the mortgage shall not operate' as notice as against subsequent creditors, purchasers, mortgagees, or incumbrancers for a longer period than 120 days after such removal, unless such mortgage be refiled in the county to which the chattel is removed and in which it is permanently located. Section 4033 fixes the locus of property in transit. *127 We assume it will not be questioned that the authority for the filing or refiling of chattel mortgages so as to gire notice thereof to subsequent purchasers and incumbrancers derives its force from the statutory provisions in respect thereto, and that all rights accruing by virtue of such mortgages will be protected and preserved only by fully meeting the requirements of the statute and observing its provisions. In the absence of any- specific statutory provision regarding the removal of mortgaged property, the record of a chattel mortgage in the county where it is requir-. ed ta be filed originally is constructive notice to subsequent purchasers and incum-brancers of the property for value, and the mortgage is valid even though the property is removed to another county. This was the law in Oklahoma prior to the taking effect of the Revised Statutes. National Bank of Commerce v. Jones, 18 Okla. 555, 91 Pac. 191, 12 L. R. A. (N. S.) 310, 11 Ann. Cas. 1041. Where, however, it is expressly provided by the statute that, upon the removal of the mortgaged goods from the town or county .where the mortgage was first filed, the mortgage must be refiled in the county to which the mortgaged property is removed within a fixed time, and the mortgagee neglects to have the mortgage, refiled within the statutory period, this omission destroys the effect of the original registration as constructive notice. Snodgrass v. J. I. Case Threshing Mach. Co.. 70 Okla. 303. 174 Pac. 515; Hammels v. Sentous, 151 Cal. 520, 91 Pac. 327. 12 Ann. Cas. 945, and note.

As the Vinita bank never refiled its mortgage in Mayes county, and as the mortgaged property was removed from Delaware county to Mayes county and there continuously kept for more than 120 days prior to the time Guess purchased it of Cantrell, and in turn mortgaged it to the Locust Grove bank, there would seem to be no reasonable ground foi’ denying the application of the statute, unless it be that the property was not “permanently located” in Mayes county within the meaning of the statute. The evidence abundantly establishes the fact that the mortgaged property, after its removal to Mayes county, was there kept and used by Cantrell up until the date of his sale to Guess, although occasionally during such period Cantrell visited his home in Delaware county. Indeed, the evidence all tends to establish that from January 24, 1914, until the suit was brought, the property mortgaged to the Vinita hank was at all times in Mayes county. In such circumstances, the property was “permanently located” in Mayes county, within the meaning of 'the statute, and, as the Vinita bank failed to refile its mortgage during the 120-day period after the removal, the filing of its mortgage in Delaware county did not operate as constructive notice thereof to either Guess or the Locust Grove bank.- At common law, rules were established which assigned a situs or locality to- every subject of personal property for the purpose of a'd-ministration and probate. In 25 A. & E. Enc. of L. 1071, it is said that no good reason is seen why these rules of the common law may not be extended to cases arising under the recording acts. The rule announced is approved in 2 Minor’s Inst. 949, where the author fixes the situs of chattels, such as domestic animals,* as follows:

“Movable and tangible chattels are of the county or corporation where they are at the date of the writing to be registered.” .

This is the requirement of our statute both for the filing of the mortgage in the first instance, and the refiling thereof in the county to which the chattel has been removed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1919 OK 69, 179 P. 29, 72 Okla. 125, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-nat-bank-of-vinita-v-guess-okla-1919.