Gugino v. Credit Acceptance Corp. (In re Conklin)

511 B.R. 688
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Idaho
DecidedJune 6, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 13-01818-JDP; Adversary No. 13-06040-JDP
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 511 B.R. 688 (Gugino v. Credit Acceptance Corp. (In re Conklin)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gugino v. Credit Acceptance Corp. (In re Conklin), 511 B.R. 688 (Idaho 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

JIM D. PAPPAS, Bankruptcy Judge.

Introduction

Benefitting from bright-line rules in Idaho’s statutes, trustees in this District have long enjoyed success in avoiding the security interests held by would-be secured creditors in motor vehicles. As this case demonstrates, due to changes in those statutes, trustees may now experience challenges in assailing those hens.

Plaintiff, chapter 71 trustee Jeremy Gugino (“Trustee”), commenced this adversary proceeding against creditor Defendant Credit Acceptance Corporation (“CAC”) seeking to avoid the hen it claimed on a 2006 Honda Odyssey (the “Honda”) owned by debtors Scott and Nicole Conklin (“Debtors”) as a preference pursuant to § 547(b). Dkt. No. 5. Because they had possession of the Honda, had claimed it exempt, and hoped to reaffirm the debt with CAC to keep the Honda, without objection by Trustee, Debtors were allowed to intervene as defendants in the adversary. Dkt. Nos. 11 and 27.

Debtors filed a motion for summary judgment, in which CAC joined, Dkt. Nos. 29 and 38, and Trustee filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, Dkt. No. 39. On April 30, 2014, the Court conducted a hearing at which the parties appeared and presented arguments in support' of then-respective motions. This Memorandum disposes of the issues raised by the motions.2

Facts3

On July 3, 2013, Debtors entered into a retail installment contract with Hannigan Auto Sales, LLC in Emmett, Idaho to purchase the Honda. CAC agreed to finance Debtors’ purchase in the amount $12,871.20. Debtors took possession of the Honda the same day.

CAC thereafter mailed a “Report of Sale and Application for Certificate of Title” (the “Application”)4 to Gem County.5 The Application was received by Gem County on August 2, 2013, as is evidenced by a date stamp appearing on the Application. However, while the certificate of title issued for the Honda by the State of Idaho properly listed CAC as the “lienholder,” it indicated that CAC’s lien was “recorded” on August 6, 2013. August 2, 2013, is thirty days after July 3, 2013, the day Debtors purchased and took possession of the Honda.

[690]*690Debtors filed their chapter 7 case on September 4, 2013. Trustee was appointed, and on October 21, 2013, commenced this adversary proceeding against CAC. In his complaint, Trustee contended that, because CAC’s security interest in the Honda was not perfected until August 6, as evidenced by the recording date on the title, that security interest could be avoided under § 547(b) as a preference.

Debtors and CAC disagree with Trustee. In their view, the CAC security interest was perfected on August 2, the date the Application was actually received by Gem County, and therefore, CAC’s security interest is immune from avoidance. To support their summary judgment motions, they offered an affidavit of Debtors’ counsel. Dkt. No. 32. It explains that on November 21, 2013, Debtors’ counsel went to the Ada County Motor Vehicles Office to inquire about the discrepancy between the date the Application was received by Gem County, and the lien recording date listed in the title record for the Honda. After discussing the matter with a county employee at the office, and by phone with an employee of the Idaho Department of Transportation (the “Department”), all concluded that a clerical error had occurred when the information was transmitted by Gem County to the Department to create the certificate of title. Counsel inquired whether the clerical error could be corrected to show in the Department’s electronic records that the lien recording date was actually August 2, 2013, the date the Application was received by Gem County. Counsel’s request was obliged, and thereafter, the date in the electronic records for the Honda title certificate was changed to reflect a recording date of August 2, instead of August 6, 2013. Counsel submitted a certified copy of a printout of the electronic record of title for the Honda with his affidavit, which shows August 2, 2013, as the “recorded” date for CAC’s lien.

Arguments, Analysis, and Disposition

I. The Parties’ Arguments

Because the material facts are undisputed, Trustee argues that he is entitled to a summary judgment avoiding the CAC lien on the Honda as a preference because all of the elements of § 547(b) are satisfied. In particular, Trustee notes that, as of the date of Debtors’ bankruptcy filing, the certificate of title for the Honda showed that the CAC lien was recorded on August 6, 2013, 34 days after Debtors purchased and took possession of the Honda on July 3, 2013. As a result of the delay in properly perfecting its lien, Trustee contends that CAC’s lien is avoidable as a preferential transfer of an interest in Debtors’ property, the Honda, which occurred within 90 days of the filing of their bankruptcy petition, on account of an antecedent debt, the installment contract. Trustee further argues that the exception in the Code protecting delayed perfection of purchase money security interests in § 547(c)(3)(B)6 does not apply in this case because CAC perfected its lien more than 30 days after Debtors took possession of the Honda. Instead, Trustee argues, under the transfer timing rules in § 547(e)(2)(B), CAC’s perfection of the lien on the Honda does not relate back to the date of the parties’ transaction, and therefore, the Debtors’ transfer of the security interest to CAC was on account of an antecedent debt and avoidable as a preference.

Trustee argues that the applicable state law dictating the rules for perfecting mo[691]*691tor vehicle liens, Idaho Code § 49-510, supports his position. Indeed, in determining when CAC’s lien was perfected, Trustee interprets the Idaho statute to require the Court to utilize the recording date appearing on the certificate of title issued by the State, even if that date was erroneous.7

Debtors and CAC concur that no genuine issues of material facts remain, but they insist that they are entitled to a summary judgment. They do not dispute that, on the date Debtors filed their bankruptcy petition, August 6, 2013 was listed as the recording date of CAC’s lien on the Department’s title records for the Honda. However, Debtors and CAC argue that, to determine if CAC’s lien is preference, the perfection date for CAC’s lien was August 2, 2013, the date the Application was stamped as received by Gem County, exactly 30 days after Debtors bought and received the Honda. They base this conclusion on their reading of Idaho Code § 49-510, which they contend, requires this Court to use the date the Application was received by Gem County, not the date that is listed on the certificate of title, as the CAC hen perfection date. Doing so, they argue, means that CAC’s lien is insulated from avoidance by Trustee as a preference under § 547(c)(3)(B).

II. Applicable Law

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Related

Gugino v. Rowley (In re Floyd)
540 B.R. 747 (D. Idaho, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
511 B.R. 688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gugino-v-credit-acceptance-corp-in-re-conklin-idb-2014.