Green v. Bohuslav

204 So. 2d 870, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1224
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 1967
DocketNo. 44639
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 204 So. 2d 870 (Green v. Bohuslav) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Bohuslav, 204 So. 2d 870, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1224 (Mich. 1967).

Opinion

RODGERS, Justice:

Henry F. Niemeyer, a used car dealer at McComb, Mississippi, purchased a new Lincoln Continental automobile, serial number 6Y82G421369, from a dealer in Arkansas, to sell to a customer, but the sale was not consummated. He decided to keep the automobile, and borrowed $5,243.40 from Deposit Guaranty National Bank at Mechanics Bank Branch in McComb, Mississippi, with which to pay for the automobile. On May 11, 1966, he executed a note and chattel mortgage deed on the automobile to the hank. Thereafter, on May 22, 1966, he sold the automobile to appellee, Leon Bohuslav.

When Mr. Niemeyer failed to pay the note, the bank sought to recover its collateral, the automobile, through the appellant trustee. A writ of replevin was issued. The appellee gave the required replevin bond and retained possession of the automobile. The trustee filed his declaration in re-plevin, to which the defendant filed an answer in which he pled the historical plea of “not guilty,” contending that the bank’s chattel mortgage was unenforceable against the appellant because he was an innocent purchaser without actual notice of plaintiff’s claim.

The case was tried before a jury,in Marion County, Mississippi, the home of the defendant, Leon J. Bohuslav, and the trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the defendant. The trustee has appealed and now contends that he was entitled to a directed verdict in his favor, because, it is said, a chattel deed of trust on an automobile is constructive notice to a third party purchaser of the bank’s interest, notwithstanding the fact that the mortgagee is a dealer of automobiles. Appellant trustee points out that recordation of retained title contracts on automobiles was not required before the enactment of section 8075-01, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp. 1966), which became effective July 22, 1958; therefore, it is argued, the cases heretofore reported on retained title contracts are not applicable. Appellant then cites many cases from other jurisdictions, one of which, Finance & Guaranty Company v. Defiance Motor Truck Company, 145 Md. 94, 125 A. 585 (1924), holds that where a retained title contract was recorded and the maker, an automobile dealer, sold the truck to a third party, the purchaser was charged with notice of the conditional sales agreement, and the truck was subject to the rights of the holder of the recorded contract. This was also held to be the rule in North Carolina in the case of Whitehurst v. Garrett, 196 N.C. 154, 144 S.E. 835 (1928), and in Louisiana in Palmisano v. Louisiana Motors Company, 166 La. 416, 117 So. 446 (1928).

In addition thereto, the appellant points out that the bank complied with sections 863, 869 and 868 of Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956).

The appellee, Leon Bohuslav, contends, on the other hand, that it is the established law of this state that an innocent purchaser for valuable consideration of collateral from a dealer without actual notice of a lien thereon is not charged with notice of a recorded trust deed. It is said that this rule is based upon (1) fraud, (2) estoppel, and (3) public interest.

Many cases holding that a mortgage on a stock of goods is void as to creditors are cited in Note 5 under section 265, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956).

Beginning with Bank of Hazlehurst v. Goodbar, 73 Miss. 566, 19 So. 204 (1896), this Court has uniformly held that a chattel mortgage on goods and wares owned by a [872]*872dealer who is allowed to continue to display such goods for sale is null and void as against creditors and purchasers of the grantor for valuable consideration without actual notice. See Newton Oil & Mfg. Co. v. Carr, 97 Miss. 234, 52 So. 353 (1910); Boice v. Finance & Guar. Corp., 127 Va. 563, 102 S.E. 591, 10 A.L.R. 654 (1920); Coffeeville Bank v. Stone, 151 Miss. 482, 118 So. 413 (1928), sugg. error overruled, 153 Miss. 811, 121 So. 816 (1929).

The question to be determined in this case resolved itself into an issue of facts. Was the maker of the chattel mortgage a dealer in the goods, wares and merchandise hy-pothecated in the mortgage, and if so, were the goods bought and exhibited in the dealer’s stock of goods for resale with actual or implied notice to the mortgagee ?

The testimony is more than ample to establish the fact that the maker of the chattel mortgage was a dealer of used automobiles and that this fact was known to the executive vice president of the Mechanics State Bank at the time he made the loan to the dealer. The testimony shows that the vice president of the bank stated he thought the dealer intended to use the automobile as a private automobile, but later he admitted he knew it was purchased for resale.

The testimony shows that the dealer sold the Lincoln Continental automobile for valuable consideration to Mr. Leon Bohuslav, who had no actual notice of the claim of the bank. The sale was made to the purchaser in Marion County, and the mortgage was recorded in Pike County. The record shows that the purchaser traded a Cadillac automobile to the dealer and paid the balance of the purchase price in cash. The Lincoln Continental automobile had a dealer’s tag on it at the time of the sale.

As a general rule, constructive notice is not afforded by the recordation of chattel mortgages on goods and chattels left in the hands of the merchant and dealer for resale as against purchasers for a valuable consideration. The cases sometime refer to this rule as “indicia of ownership.” The rule, however, is not universal. Many cases on this subject are collected in 136 A.L.R. 821 (1942). The case of Howell v. Board, 185 Okl. 513, 94 P.2d 830 (1939), is very similar to the case now before us. In that case it was held that where a mortgagee of an automobile owned by a second-hand automobile dealer had knowledge that the automobile was a part of the dealer’s stock in trade being offered for sale to the public, and thereafter the dealer sold one of the automobiles in the usual course of trade to a purchaser without knowledge of the mortgage, the mortgagee, by necessary implication, had consented to the sale of the mortgaged property and had waived thereby the mortgage lien.

In General Contract Purchase Corporation v. Clem, 220 Ark. 863, 251 S.W.2d 112 (1952), the court pointed out that goods and chattels exposed daily for indiscriminate sale to the general public at the place of business of the owner and over which the retailer or merchant is permitted to exercise dominion cannot be made the subject of a valid chattel mortgage.

In Bordman Investment Company v. Peoples Bank, 320 S.W.2d 72, 76 (Mo.Ct.App.1959), the Kansas City Court of Appeals pointed out that “in almost all jurisdictions the recognized rule is that where a mortgagee of an automobile or other chattel knows the mortgagor is a dealer, buying to sell the automobile or other chattel in the regular course of business, and consents to its sale by the mortgagor, the purchaser takes free from the mortgagee’s lien. (Citing many cases, including Annotation, 136 A.L.R. 821, where cases on both sides of this issue have been collected.)”

In McQuay v. Mt. Vernon Bank & Trust Company, 200 Va.

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Bluebook (online)
204 So. 2d 870, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-bohuslav-miss-1967.