Goldner Trucking Corp. v. Stoll Packing Corp.

24 Misc. 2d 262, 193 N.Y.S.2d 736, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2833
New York Supreme Court·Decided October 19, 1959·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

J. Irwin Shapiro, J.

Defendant Fruehauf Trailer Company moves for partial summary judgment as to the first and second causes of action alleged in the verified third amended complaint. Plaintiff moves for like relief as to those causes of action.

The basic facts underlying the two causes of action are not in dispute. In both, the plaintiff alleges purported acts of conversion on the part of defendant Fruehauf Trailer Company (hereinafter referred to as Fruehauf), the first cause of action alleging the conversion of trailer ME 20064 and the second alleging the conversion of trailer ME 19851.

On July 21, 1957, Fruehauf sold plaintiff trailer ME 19851 pursuant to the terms and conditions of a contract of conditional sale. Defendant Stoll Packing Corp. (hereinafter referred to as Stoll) acted as guarantor under the contract. On August 20, 1957, a second trailer, ME 20064, was sold by Fruehauf to plaintiff with Stoll again acting as guarantor. Both contracts are identical in their provisions except as to the purchase price and amounts of installment payments. Installments under, both contracts were payable on the 15th of each month. The guarantee is attached to the conditional sales [264]*264agreement in each case and reads in full as follows: “For value received the undersigned hereby unconditionally guarantees the fulfillment of the obligations of this document by the Buyer named herein and all renewals and extensions hereof to any owner or holder hereof, and hereby waives notice of any default hereunder.”

From the date on which the first installment became due under each of the conditional sale contracts plaintiff failed to pay the installments on time. Payments with regard to trailer ME 19851 were made respectively 22, 11 and 31 days after they had become due. Payments with regard to trailer ME 20064 were made respectively 33 and 3 days after they had become due.

On September 19, 1957, plaintiff was in default with regard to both conditional sale contracts. The three parties, Fruehauf, the plaintiff and Stoll, at the request of Stoll, thereupon entered into two agreements each entitled ‘ Amendment to Guarantee ’ ’ (hereinafter referred to as the Amendments) and each identical with the other except that one dealt with trailer ME 19851 and the other with trailer ME 20064. Both agreements had been executed by plaintiff and Stoll prior to their submission to Fruehauf. The Amendments provided that in case plaintiff should thereafter default in the performance of any of its obligations under the conditional sale contracts Stoll would have 10 days from the date of notice of such default to “ cure ” the same. Upon curing such default Stoll would succeed to all of the “right, title, interest or equity” that plaintiff (the conditional buyer) had in the trailer. Plaintiff would then have 10 days from the date Stoll cured the default as aforesaid to 11 compensate ” Stoll for its expenses incurred thereby and by so “compensating” it would divest Stoll of the interest it had acquired (pars. 1-3 of the Amendments).

Under paragraph 9 of the Amendments Stoll assumed all of the obligations of the “Buyer” under the conditional sale contracts upon its curing of any default. Fruehauf was to give title papers to the party who was then the “ Buyer ” upon full payment by it of the obligations uncler the contract.

On November 15, 1.957, the payments required under each of the contracts fell due, but none was made. Stoll was repeatedly in telephone communication with Fruehauf between November 15, 1957, and November 25, 1957, inquiring whether the payments had been made, and was informed that none had been made on either of the conditional sale contracts. On November 27,1957,12 days after the defaults, Fruehauf repossessed trailer ME 20064, trailer ME 19851 not being found on that date. Later [265]*265that same day, Fruehauf received a check from Stoll covering the defaulted payments on each of the trailers. Thereafter, between November 27 and December 5, 1957, and while plaintiff and Stoll were exchanging correspondence (hereinafter described in greater detail) in which plaintiff tendered the defaulted payments to Stoll and Stoll rejected such tenders as insufficient, Fruehauf retained custody of the repossessed trailer without any objection by either plaintiff or Stoll.

Meanwhile, on November 5, 1957, Fruehauf had received notice from the North Carolina Surety Company, the insurance carrier from which plaintiff had obtained its insurance policies on trailers ME 20064, ME 19851 and a third trailer (and in which Fruehauf was named as an assured), that the insurance would be cancelled as of 12:01 a.m. on December 5, 1957. No attempt to provide Fruehauf with proof of insurance coverage, as required by the contracts, was made as of December 5,1957. On that date Fruehauf notified plaintiff that it would not allow any of the three trailers to operate without proof of insurance. Stoll thereafter received actual knowledge of the notice of cancellation and of Fruehauf’s position in regard thereto. On December 9, 1957, after the aforesaid notice of insurance_ cancellation had become effective, trailer ME 19851 was* repossessed by Fruehauf.

Between November 27, 1957, and December 10, 1957, Stoll had, orally and in writing, informed Fruehauf that it would demand strict compliance by the latter with the terms of the Amendments. As of December 11, 1957, the plaintiff and Stoll claimed possession of the two trailers. Plaintiff remonstrated with Fruehauf that Stoll’s rejections of plaintiff’s tenders were improper and that plaintiff was entitled to possession of the trailers. Stoll asserted that the tenders made by plaintiff were inadequate and that the allegedly reinstated insurance coverage did not comply with the terms of the Amendments.

On December 13, 1957, and upon payment to it by Stoll of the full balance due under the conditional sales agreements, Fruehauf executed and delivered to Stoll assignments of all its right, title and interest in and to the conditional sales contracts and, on that same day, notified plaintiff’s attorneys to that effect. Plaintiff thereupon tendered the November installments to Fruehauf. This tender was rejected by Fruehauf on the grounds (1) that there was then no existing default with regard to the November installments since Stoll had cured the default on November 27,1957, and (2) that Stoll, and not it, was then the owner of the conditional sale contracts. Thereafter, [266]*266plaintiff tendered to Stoll the December installments under the contracts which tender was refused. On January 13, 1958, plaintiff commenced this action.

Both sides agree that no issue of fact exists.

It is unnecessary to set forth each and every point raised by the parties in support of and in opposition to their respective motions. Plaintiff’s president says, “ The sole question before the Court is whether the protections afforded a purchaser under the Uniform Conditional Sales Act can be lost under the circumstances set forth in the complaint.” It may, perhaps, be more accurately stated that the crucial problem here is to determine the validity and effect of the Amendments executed on September 19, 1957, not alone under the circumstances “ set forth in the complaint ” but also under the agreed circumstances set forth in the papers before the court.

That determination must be made in the light of the above stated and the undisputed facts hereinafter set forth.

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Goldner Trucking Corp. v. Stoll Packing Corp., 24 Misc. 2d 262, 193 N.Y.S.2d 736, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2833 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1959).

24 Misc. 2d 262 (Goldner Trucking Corp. v. Stoll Packing Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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