HEK Platforms & Hoists, Inc. v. Nationsbank

759 A.2d 293, 134 Md. App. 90, 41 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 971, 2000 Md. App. LEXIS 152
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedSeptember 8, 2000
DocketNo. 1104
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 759 A.2d 293 (HEK Platforms & Hoists, Inc. v. Nationsbank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HEK Platforms & Hoists, Inc. v. Nationsbank, 759 A.2d 293, 134 Md. App. 90, 41 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 971, 2000 Md. App. LEXIS 152 (Md. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

MARVIN H. SMITH, Judge,

Retired, Specially Assigned.

HEK Platforms and Hoists, Inc. (“HEK”) appeals from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County adverse to its claims against ORIX Credit Alliance, Inc. (“ORIX”). We shall affirm the judgment of the trial court — and resist the [92]*92temptation to dismiss the appeal because of a totally inadequate record extract. We explain.

FACTS

HEK manufactures and markets scaffolding equipment for use by the construction industry. While it has an office in Baltimore County, its principal place of business is in Georgia. On May 10, 1994, HEK entered into a sales contract (“the 1994 transaction”) with the Proceres Companies, Inc. (“Pro-ceres”), which was headquartered in Howard County, Maryland. The contract was memorialized by a “Conditional Sales Contract Note,” which reflected that Proceres agreed to pay HEK or any assignee of HEK $230,112.00 in 36 monthly installments in exchange for seven “platforms” and “all attachments and accessories thereto.” By the terms of the note, HEK or its assignee was to retain title to the equipment until the note was paid in full. Proceres executed a guaranty of the note, as did Proceres’s president, J. Wickham Zimmerman, and vice president, James V. Blimmel.

The purchase by Proceres was, financed by ORIX. Thus, when Proceres executed the “Conditional Sales Contract Note” payable to HEK, HEK simultaneously executed an “Assignment” of the note to ORIX. Under the terms of the “Assignment,” ORIX was to pay $200,000.00 to HEK upon delivery of the scaffolding equipment to Proceres.

HEK purported to deliver the equipment to Proceres on May 23, 1994. On June 1, 1994, in order to perfect its purchase money security interest in the equipment, ORIX prepared financing statements and drafted checks for filing with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (“SDAT”) and the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Howard County. The financing statement filed with SDAT was stamped “RECORDED” on June 1, 1994. The statement filed with the Circuit Court for Howard County, however, was not date-stamped until June 17,1994.

Sometime after May 23, 1994, Proceres informed both HEK and ORIX that some of the equipment that had been delivered [93]*93was damaged, and that HEK had failed to deliver 300 of the “mast bolts” that were necessary to the construction of the scaffolding. ORIX refused to pay HEK the $200,000.00 due on the “Assignment” until the situation was rectified, and HEK agreed to repair or replace the damaged parts and to deliver the 300 bolts. Although Proceres was able to construct some of the scaffolding immediately upon the delivery of May 23, 1994, all of the scaffolding could not be constructed until late June or early July, when the additional bolts were delivered and the damaged parts were repaired or replaced. ORIX paid HEK for the “Assignment” by check dated July 5, 1994.

In October and November of 1996, Proceres failed to make payments to ORIX. ORIX therefore believed it had the right to “repossess” the scaffolding equipment. Rather than do so itself, however, ORIX, through its Baltimore branch manager, John Frank, contacted HEK’s sales manager, Dennis Morgan, and later HEK’s president, Eric Schmidt. The men negotiated a deal (“the 1996 transaction”) whereby HEK was to pay ORIX $73,926.00 — the remaining amount owed to ORIX by Proceres — in exchange for ORIX’s right to the equipment. In a November 19,1996 letter to Frank, Schmidt summarized the agreement as follows:

I would like to confirm the following information that has been related to me through communications between ORIX Credit Alliance and HEK Platforms & Hoists regarding reassignment of the May 10,1994, Conditional Sale Contract Note from The Proceres Companies, Inc. (Buyer) to HEK Platforms & Hoists, Inc. (Seller). This contract note had been assigned to ORIX Credit Alliance, Inc., on May 10, 1994.
1. ORIX Credit Alliance is reassigning the contract note to HEK Platforms & Hoists at a discount rate because the note is in default.
2. The Proceres Companies have been notified of the default status of the note.
[94]*943. The Proceres Companies have failed to correct the default. Therefore, the note has been accelerated, the balance is due and payable, and the equipment is subject to repossession by the terms of the agreement.
4. The Proceres Companies have communicated to ORIX Credit Alliance that ORIX should come and get the equipment as it is on the wall 75 ft in the air.
5. ORIX Credit Alliance has a secured interest in the equipment by the terms of the contract note.

HEK wed the $73,926.00 to ORIX on November 22, 1996. On Sunday, November 24, 1996, HEK work crews went to Proceres’s job site in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia and retrieved the scaffolding equipment. The work crews immediately transported the equipment to HEK’s office in Atlanta, Georgia.

On Monday, November 25, however, counsel for HEK received a phone call and, later, a telefaxed letter from counsel for Nationsbank. Counsel for Nationsbank asserted that Na-tionsbank had “a blanket lien on all of Proceres’ assets,” that ORIX had failed to properly perfect its purchase money security interest in the scaffolding equipment in question, and that Nationsbank therefore had the superior claim. Counsel for Nationsbank asserted that Nationsbank had a buyer for the equipment and demanded that HEK return it immediately-

That same day, HEK’s president, Schmidt, received, via Federal Express, a writing from ORIX’s Baltimore branch manager, Frank, that memorialized the transaction that had occurred the previous week. The writing, which was captioned “Assignment,” consisted of a preprinted form dated November 22,1996 and signed by Frank. It stated:

THE UNDERSIGNED, ORIX CREDIT ALLIANCE, INC., Assignor, hereby assigns to HEK Platforms and Hoists, Inc. (hereinafter called “Assignee”), without recourse and without any representations and warranties, express, implied, or statutory, all of its right, title and interest in and to the following contract or agreement:
[95]*95CONDITIONAL SALE CONTRACT NOTE, dated May 10, 1994 with HEK Platforms & Hoists, Inc. As Seller and The Proceres Companies, Incorporated As Buyer.
It is a condition of this Assignment, and Assignee by accepting this Assignment hereby agrees that Assignor and its respective successors shall be and are hereby unconditionally released by Assignee, its successors and assigns from any and all claims, liabilities and obligations arising out of and/or in connection with the above described contract or agreement.

Schmidt contacted Frank about Nationsbank’s claim, and Frank told him that “there must be some mistake” and that he “would have to check into it.” Subsequently, Proceres sent a letter to ORIX and to its other creditors, expressing its apparent belief that “Nationsbank ... has a first priority blanket lien on all assets of [Proceres].” Nationsbank, meanwhile, continued to press for the return of the scaffolding equipment.

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Bluebook (online)
759 A.2d 293, 134 Md. App. 90, 41 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 971, 2000 Md. App. LEXIS 152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hek-platforms-hoists-inc-v-nationsbank-mdctspecapp-2000.