Great Plains National Bank, N.A. v. Mount

2012 COA 66, 280 P.3d 670, 77 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 320, 2012 WL 1232286, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 548
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 12, 2012
DocketNos. 11CA1243, 11CA1250
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2012 COA 66 (Great Plains National Bank, N.A. v. Mount) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Plains National Bank, N.A. v. Mount, 2012 COA 66, 280 P.3d 670, 77 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 320, 2012 WL 1232286, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 548 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge LICHTENSTEIN.

( 1 In this consolidated appeal, defendants, Jamie Mount and Cattle Consultants, LLC (Cattle Consultants), appeal the district court's summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, Great Plains National Bank, N.A. (Great Plains), on their separate motions for summary judgment. We affirm.

I. Background

T2 This case involves two disputes: The first is between Mount and Great Plains, Mount elaiming that, under the Food Security Act of 1985 (FSA), he purchased 206 head of cattle free of a security interest claimed by Great Plains. The second is between Cattle Consultants and Great Plains, each claiming a superior security interest in the 206 head of cattle.

1 3 The Great Plains security interest. In October 2009, Fred Smith, an Oklahoma cattleman, obtained a loan from Great Plains. In exchange, Smith granted Great Plains a security interest covering "[alll cattle" that he owned at the time or would acquire in the future. On November 19, 2009, Great Plains [672]*672filed a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) financing statement with the Oklahoma Seere-tary of State's office reflecting this interest. Great Plains also filed an effective financing statement (EFS) in Oklahoma, as required by the FSA, on December 17, 2009.

14 The Cattle Consultants security interest. On February 15, 2010, Mount, a Colorado cattleman, agreed to purchase 206 head of cattle from Smith after inspecting Smith's cattle in Oklahoma on January 28, 2010. That same day, Cattle Consultants financed Mount's purchase, and Mount granted Cattle Consultants a security interest in the 206 head of cattle.1 Cattle Consultants filed a UCC financing statement with the Colorado Secretary of State on March 8, 2010, reflecting its interest in Mount's cattle.

T5 Mount's cattle purchase. Although Mount believed he was buying 206 head of Smith's cattle located in Oklahoma, Smith actually fulfilled the purchase agreement with cattle he had just bought on February 14, 2010, from a cattle broker in Missouri.

T 6 On February 18, 2010, Smith received a shipment of 231 head of cattle from the Missouri cattle broker. The next day, after a veterinarian examined the cattle, Smith loaded 206 of these cattle onto trucks bound for Colorado. Mount paid to ship the 206 head of cattle from Oklahoma to Colorado.

T7 Smith's payment for the Missouri cattle. When Smith paid the Missouri cattle broker, he wrote a check with insufficient funds, but Great Plains covered the check. Great Plains attempted unsuccessfully to recoup this money from Smith. Consequently, in April 2010, Great Plains sought to enforce its security interest in the 206 head of cattle purchased by Mount, and filed a UCC finane-ing statement against Smith in Colorado.

T8 All parties sought summary judgment, and the district court ruled in favor of Great Plains. The court concluded that the cattle were "produced in" Oklahoma, such that under the FSA, 7 U.S.C. § 1631, Mount's purchase was subject to Great Plains' financing statement filed in that state. The court further found that under the UCC, Cattle Consultants' security interest in the cattle was junior to that of Great Plains. Mount and Cattle Consultants each appeals that judgment.

IL. Standard of Review

T9 We review an order granting or denying summary judgment de novo. Lombard v. Colo. Outdoor Educ. Cir., Inc., 187 P.3d 565, 570 (Colo.2008). Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings and supporting documents demonstrate that no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. The nonmoving party is entitled to the benefit of all favorable inferences drawn from the undisputed facts, and any doubt as to issues of material fact must be resolved against the moving party. Id.

III, Mount's Appeal

{10 Mount contends that the district court's interpretation of the phrase "produced in," as used in the FSA, led it to wrongly conclude that Mount purchased the 206 head of cattle subject to the security interest claimed by Great Plains. On review, the question we must answer is whether Mount's cattle were "produced in" Oklahoma. If so, Mount took the cattle subject to the Great Plains security interest because Great Plains filed its EFS in Oklahoma. If not, Mount took the cattle free and clear of the Great Plains security interest. We conclude the cattle were "produced in" Oklahoma for FSA purposes.

111 We review statutory construction de novo. Spahmer v. Gullette, 118 P.3d 158, 161-62 (Colo.2005). Our primary goal when construing a statute is to determine and give effect to legislative intent. Id. Because we are construing a federal statute, we turn to well-established rules of federal statutory interpretation. See Copeland v. MBNA Am. Bank, 907 P.2d 87, 90 (Colo.1995). Therefore, we look first to the plain language of the statute, giving words and phrases their plain and ordinary meaning. Roberts v. Sea-Land Servs., Inc., - U.S. ---, ---, 132 S.Ct. 1350, 182 L.Ed.2d 341 [673]*673(2012); see also Spahmer, 113 P.3d at 161-62.

112 Statutory language "cannot be construed in a vacuum. It is a fundamental canon of statutory construction that the words of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme." Davis v. Mich. Dept of Treasury, 489 U.S. 803, 809, 109 S.Ct. 1500, 103 L.Ed.2d 891 (1989); accord Jefferson Bd. of Equalization v. Gerganoff, 241 P.3d 932, 935 (Colo.2010). Furthermore, the statute must be interpreted to give consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all its parts, avoiding interpretations that would render any words or phrases superfluous. See TRW Inc. v. Andrews, 534 U.S. 19, 31, 122 S.Ct. 441, 151 L.Ed.2d 339 (2001). We must also avoid interpretations that would lead to illogical or absurd results. See Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 575, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 73 L.Ed.2d 973 (1982).

(13 When statutory language is unclear, ambiguous, or susceptible of different interpretations, we look to sources of legislative intent, including legislative history, the statute's declaration of purpose, the object the legislature sought to obtain by the enactment, the cireumstances under which it was adopted, and the consequences of a particular construction. See Dolan v. U.S. Postal Serv., 546 U.S. 481, 486, 126 S.Ct. 1252, 163 L.Ed.2d 1079 (2006) ("Interpretation of a word or phrase depends upon reading the whole statutory text, considering the purpose and context of the statute, and consulting any precedents or authorities that inform the analysis."); Chapman v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

PFW, Inc. v. Residences at Little Nell Development, LLC
2012 COA 137 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 COA 66, 280 P.3d 670, 77 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 320, 2012 WL 1232286, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-plains-national-bank-na-v-mount-coloctapp-2012.