First National Bank & Trust v. Miami County Cooperative Ass'n

897 P.2d 144, 257 Kan. 989, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 89
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 9, 1995
DocketNo. 72,329
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 897 P.2d 144 (First National Bank & Trust v. Miami County Cooperative Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Bank & Trust v. Miami County Cooperative Ass'n, 897 P.2d 144, 257 Kan. 989, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 89 (kan 1995).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Lockett, J.:

This is a controversy between two creditors of a bankrupt farming operation. The creditors, a bank and a cooperative association, each claimed rights to certain farm products and their proceeds. The district court found that lien notices given by the bank to the cooperative association sufficiently complied with 7 U.S.C. § 1631(e)(l)(1994) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (the Act), and granted the bank partial summary judgment against the cooperative association. The parties subsequently stipulated to further entry of judgment against the cooperative association for conversion of farm products and proceeds in the amount of $44,910.63, interest, and costs. The cooperative association appealed. The case was transferred to this court pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3018(c).

Larry and Sheree Low were farmers in Miami County, Kansas. For several years, the Lows’ farming operation was financed through promissory notes from First National Bank & Trust (the Bank) in Osawatomie, Kansas, and an unsecured open account at the Miami County Cooperative Association (the Coop). The Bank is a sophisticated commercial lender which attempted to notify the Coop of its security interest under the Act. The Coop is an experienced commercial lender and buyer. The Coop, a supplier which furnished crop production inputs to the Lows, failed to obtain priority over the security interest of the Bank by notifying the Bank that it supplied agricultural chemicals and seed for the crops. See K.S.A. 58-241 et seq.

The Coop received notices of the Bank’s security interest. Although it had knowledge that the Bank held a perfected security [991]*991interest in the Lows’ farm products and their proceeds, the Coop purchased farm products from the Lows and applied the proceeds of the sales to payment of the Lows’ indebtedness to the Coop. The Coop partially honored the Bank’s notices from November 1987 through June 1991 by sometimes issuing checks to Larry Low, sometimes to the Bank and Low, and other times to itself or Low.

The Lows experienced financial difficulties related to their farming operation, defaulted on the promissory notes to the Bank, and eventually filed for bankruptcy. The Bank filed the action against the Lows (1) for the amounts owed under the notes; (2) to foreclose its security agreement with the Lows; and (3) against the Coop for the proceeds of the farm products sold by the Lows to the Coop. The Coop’s answer asserted it was a buyer of farm products and that the Bank’s failure to comply with the notice provisions of the Act acted to waive the Bank’s claim to a valid, perfected security interest. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The Bank asserted that it had substantially complied with the notice requirement. The Coop argued that the federal Act requires that notices to the buyer of farm products strictly follow the requirements set out in the Act.

The district judge found that under the Act the Coop was a buyer of farm products. The judge determined that the Bank had acted in conformance with K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-401 by filing a financing statement with the Kansas Secretary of State in 1986 and renewing it each subsequent year. The judge observed that from 1986 through 1991, the Bank had sent the Coop written notice of its security interest in the Lows’ crops. The judge acknowledged the Coop’s argument that although it had received the notices, the Bank’s notices failed to comply with the Act by not including (1) a legal description of the real property, (2) the county where the crops were grown, or (3) the specific kind of grain. The judge found the Coop’s argument was not persuasive because all notices (1) identified the lender and debtor; (2) were valid for one year only by operation of law; and (3) claimed an interest in grain and beans grown by the Lows in Miami County, Kansas. The judge observed that a reasonable buyer of farm products would be on notice that the Bank claimed an interest in these farm products. The judge [992]*992concluded that the Bank’s notices substantially complied with the Act and prevented the Coop from taking the farm products free from the Bank’s claim upon them or the proceeds from their sale.The district judge entered summary judgment for the Bank against the Lows, in rem, and partial summary judgment for the Bank against the Coop. The judge refused summary judgment on the issues as to whether the Bank’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations or whether the Bank had waived its rights.

To avoid a trial of the remaining issues, the Bank and the Coop stipulated that the Lows sold grain to the Coop having a value of $47,910.63, which is the amount of the Bank’s claim against the Coop for conversion. Of that amount, a claim for recovery by the Bank from the Coop of $3,000 is barred by the statute of limitations. The Coop purchased grain from the Lows and applied the proceeds of such sales to payment of the Lows’ indebtedness to the Coop in the amount of $44,910.63. The parties agreed to entry of judgment for the Bank against the Coop for $44,910.63, plus interest and costs. The Coop appeals.

The Act

7 U.S.C. § 1631 (1994) of the Food Security Act of 1985 was enacted in response to the perceived burden on interstate commerce from state laws which permitted a secured lender to enforce liens against a purchaser of farm products, even if the purchaser did not know that the sale of the products violated the lender’s security interest in the products, lacked any practical method for discovering the existence of the security interest, and had no reasonable means to ensure that the seller used the sales proceeds to repay the lender. 7 U.S.C. § 1631(a)(1). The perceived burden on and the obstruction to interstate commerce in farm products refers to security interests in growing crops or crops to be grown, as described in K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-109(3), created under the Kansas Uniform Commercial Code. See K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-203 and K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 84-9-402 (1). Congress reasoned that purchasers of farm products should not be subject to double payment for products — at the time of purchase and again if the seller failed to repay the lender. Congress perceived that exposure to double [993]*993payment inhibited free competition in the market for farm products and constituted a burden and obstruction to interstate commerce in farm products. 7 U.S.C. § 1631(a)(2)-(4).

The Act preempts the Kansas farm products exception found in K.S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
897 P.2d 144, 257 Kan. 989, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-trust-v-miami-county-cooperative-assn-kan-1995.