First National Bank of Lewisville v. Bank of Bradley

96 S.W.3d 773, 80 Ark. App. 368, 49 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 959, 2003 Ark. App. LEXIS 73
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 29, 2003
DocketCA 02-589
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 96 S.W.3d 773 (First National Bank of Lewisville v. Bank of Bradley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Bank of Lewisville v. Bank of Bradley, 96 S.W.3d 773, 80 Ark. App. 368, 49 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 959, 2003 Ark. App. LEXIS 73 (Ark. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

John B. Robbins, Judge.

This appeal concerns the priority of liens. Appellant First National Bank of Lewisville appeals the entry of a decree of foreclosure by the Lafayette County Circuit Court that granted appellee Bank of Bradley a first lien and appellant a second lien on personal property owned by the debtors Wayne and Gail Adams d/b/a Adams Farm Equipment. We affirm.

Appellee loaned in three separate transactions with the Adamses a total principal sum of $882,855 secured by certain collateral, including farm equipment, real property, and vehicles. Some of the proceeds of these loans were used to retire a debt to appellant. Appellee’s financing statement was properly filed in both the Secretary of State’s office and the County Clerk’s office in 1994, and it contained the following description of collateral:

All equipment and machinery, including power driven machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures now owned or hereafter acquired, together with all replacements thereof, all attachments, accessories, parts or tools belonging thereto or for the use in connection therewith.
All passenger and commercial motor vehicles registered for use upon public highways or streets, now owned or hereafter-acquired, together with all replacements thereof, all attachments, accessories, parts, equipment and tools belonging thereto or used in connection therewith.
All inventory, raw materials, work in progress and supplies now owned or hereafter acquired.
All accounts receivable now outstanding or hereafter arising.
All contract rights and general intangibles now in force or hereafter acquired.
All proceeds and products from any and all of the above listed property.

The financing statements identified the debtors as Adams, Carl Wayne and Gail, d/b/a Adams Farm Equipment, P.O. Box 130, Bradley, Arkansas 71826. The creditor was identified as Bank of Bradley, P.O. Box 120, Bradley, Arkansas 71826.

Subsequently, appellant entered into another line-of-credit (loan) agreement with the Adamses for $309,875.04, secured by inventory, work in progress, and materials used or consumed in the business, and it included a two-page list of 113 specific pieces of equipment. A security agreement and financing statement with these itemized attachments were filed in 1998. The debtors and their address were the same as that listed in appellee’s earlier financing statement. According to appellant’s president, there was no question about who the Adamses were, where they were, or how to locate them. The president stated that he knew Mr. Adams had been in the business of selling farm equipment for many years, he knew that the 1994 loan proceeds from appellee were used to retire an earlier debt to appellant, and that appellant’s new line of credit was used to add to the business inventory and build a new building. In fact, Mr. Adams was elected to appellant’s board of directors.

The Adamses subsequently filed for the protection of the bankruptcy court, which eventually granted appellee and appellant relief from the stay and authorized the banks to proceed in rem against the secured property. Mr. Adams resigned from his position of board member upon the Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

The foreclosure case that followed concerned the priority of the liens of the respective banks. There was no question but that appellee’s security interest was first in time. Appellant asserted that its lien was nonetheless superior to appellee’s because appellee failed to sufficiently describe and identify its collateral in the financing statement and security agreement in order to perfect its interest. Appellant asserted that appellee’s description was no more than a description of collateral as “all the debtor’s assets” or “all the debtor’s personal property” or words of similar import, which does not reasonably identify the collateral according to Ark. Code Ann. § 4-9-108(c) (Repl. 2001).

The trial court found (1) that appellee’s description of collateral securing the loans between it and the Adamses was sufficient to put a third party on notice, (2) that because prior loan balances with appellant were paid off by proceeds from the 1994 loan from appellee, appellant would appear to have had actual knowledge of the loan made in 1994, (3) that the president of the appellant bank could not recall whether his bank did or did not perform a U.C.C. check prior to loaning the Adamses additional funds, and (4) that had a proper search been conducted by appellant prior to entering the line-of-credit agreement, appellant would have discovered the prior security interest. This appeal resulted.

The only issue on appeal is whether the description of the collateral on appellee’s financing statement was sufficient under the Uniform Commercial Code and Arkansas law to perfect its security interest. The determination of whether a description in a financing statement is adequate is a question of fact. Security Tire & Rubber Co. v. Hlass, 246 Ark. 1113, 441 S.W.2d 91 (1969). Our standard of review in this case requires us to affirm unless the trial court’s findings of fact were clearly erroneous. Jennings v. Burford, 60 Ark. App. 27, 958 S.W.2d 12 (1997). A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite conviction that a mistake was committed. Hedger Bros. Cement & Materials v. Stump, 69 Ark. App. 219, 10 S.W.3d 926 (2000). In reviewing a trial court’s findings of fact, we give due deference to the trial judge’s superior position to determine the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded to their testimony. Jennings v. Burford, supra.

The relevant statute is Ark. Code. Ann. § 4-9-108 (Repl. 2001), which states in pertinent part: .

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (c), (d), and (e), a description of personal or real property is sufficient, whether or not it is specific, if it reasonably identifies what is described.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), a description of collateral reasonably identifies the collateral if it identifies the collateral by:
(1) specific listing;
(2) category;
(3) except as otherwise provided in subsection (e), a type of collateral defined in the Uniform Commercial Code;
(4) quantity;
(5) computational or allocational formula or procedure; or
(6) except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), any other method, if the identity of the collateral is objectively determinable.

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Bluebook (online)
96 S.W.3d 773, 80 Ark. App. 368, 49 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 959, 2003 Ark. App. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-of-lewisville-v-bank-of-bradley-arkctapp-2003.