In Re Anselm

344 F. Supp. 544, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 397, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14915
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 28, 1972
DocketP-5720, P-5721
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 344 F. Supp. 544 (In Re Anselm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Anselm, 344 F. Supp. 544, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 397, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14915 (W.D. Ky. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

ALLEN, District Judge.

Jackson Purchase Production Credit Association, hereinafter referred to as PCA, seeks to review the Referee in Bankruptcy’s order of December 29, 1971, denying its claim to certain monies generated by the Trustee’s disposal of farm equipment, sold free of liens with liens to attach to the proceeds of the items sold.

The issue to be decided is did PCA have a perfected lien as against the Trustee on the equipment which was sold. The Referee concluded it did not.

On December 9, 1968, PCA filed with the Livingston County Court Clerk a security agreement executed by it and by the bankrupt to be treated as a financing statement, which in its description of the secured property read: “All farm machinery and equipment, including but not limited to tractors, tanks, tilling and harvesting tools.” Paragraph 7 of the agreement provided for “All property similar to that listed above, which at any time may be hereafter acquired by the Debtor(s) . . .”

The equipment alleged to be covered by this security agreement and financing statement is as follows:

2 Speed Feeders Spray Rig

8 Disc Hillers Cylinder

S. T. Planter Parts Boomer (On 1800 Oliver)

Fender — Mise. (Tractor IHC 450:Cultiva-tor)

Truck bed (4-Bottom Breaker)

Tractor Warmer (Oliver) Breaker for Massy Ferguson

Grain Bed (Anthony) Tractor Super "C" Cultivator

J. D. Fertilizer Dist. Grain Trailer

J. D. Rotary Mower Grain Trailer

Soil Surgeon Wheels Aple. Chev. Viking Truck

Disc Offset Box & Contents

Sprayer & Trailer Box & Contents

The Referee in Bankruptcy held that the security agreements of PCA were insufficient for lack of proper identification of the equipment affected, at least in Kentucky. He relied in his opinion upon the case of Mammoth Cave Production Credit Association v. York, 429 S.W.2d 26 (Ky. 1968). In that case the description in the security agreement filed by PCA was as follows:

“All farm equipment and all property similar to that listed above.”

Judge Osborne, writing the opinion for the Court of Appeals, held that the description was too vague and indefinite and that it is doubtful that it reasonably identified what it described. Judge Osborne stated further that the description could include anything from a screwdriver or a garden hoe to the largest machinery and that it seemed doubtful *546 that it was really agreed that tractors and other large equipment were to be security for the loan.

The Referee in Bankruptcy correctly pointed out that he was required to follow the substantive law of Kentucky in determining whether or not there was a valid lien in favor of PC A even though that law might represent a minority view interpretation of the Uniform Commercial Code. See Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188, 9 Am.Jur. 2d, Bankruptcy, § 962, page 720.

KRS 355.9-402 states in part:

“A financing statement is sufficient if it is signed by the debtor and the secured party, gives an address of the secured party from which information concerning the security interest may be obtained, gives a mailing address of the debtor and contains a statement indicating the types, or describing the items of collateral.”
KRS 355.9-110 provides as follows: “For the purposes of this article any description of personal property or real estate is sufficient whether or not it is specific if it reasonably identifies what is described.”

In the- case of In re Lehner, 303 F.Supp. 317 (D.C.Colo., 1969), petitioner made a loan to the bankrupt which was secured by a tapedeck and speaker and a 21 inch portable television. The financing statement was recorded and described the collateral as “consumer goods”. The Referee found that the term “consumer goods” d'id not sufficiently describe the type or items of collateral and held that the security interest was void. The Court in holding the financing statement to be insufficient, quoted from Professor Gilmore, Security Interests in Personal Property, Para. 15.3, at page 477 (1965):

“A filed financing statement must describe the types of collateral in which the secured party claims, or may claim, an interest. The description by ‘types’ is understood to require a certain degree of specificity: it would not be sufficient for the notice to claim ‘all the debtor’s property.’ Thus if a secured party is financing a dealer’s inventory which includes washing machines, television sets, phonographs, radios and refrigerators, it would be advisable for the notice to list each of these ‘types’ of collateral separately.”

Since the financing statement, which is attacked here by the Trustee in Bankruptcy, refers to tractors, it has complied with the requirements of the statutes and with Professor Gilmore’s comments in that it has designated tractors as the type of collateral which is being secured. The Referee erred in not granting the PCA a valid lien on so much of the personalty as consisted of the Tractor ICH 450¡Cultivator (4-Bot-tom Breaker), Breaker for Massey Ferguson, Tractor Super “C” Cultivator, and Tractor Warmer.

With reference to the other items which were sold by the Trustee, the Court has read with great interest the case In re Drane, 202 F.Supp. 221, decided by Judge Roy Shelbourne, Judge for the Western District of Kentucky, on January 24, 1962. In his opinion, Judge Shelbourne, while deciding a case under the Uniform Commercial Code, relies heavily on a quotation from 14 C.J. S. Chattel Mortgages § 57, Subsection 3, pages 660-662:

“As against third persons the description in the mortgage must point out its subject matter so that such persons may identify the chattels covered, to the exclusion of all other like property. It is not essential, however, that the description be so specific that the property may be identified by it alone; but it is sufficient if it suggests inquiries or means of identification which, if pursued, will disclose the property conveyed. This rule is based on the maxim, That is certain, which is capable of being made certain. So, a description is sufficient if it may be aided by parol proof and the property covered by the mortgage identified.”

*547 Judge Shelbourne also quoted from Sparks v. Deposit Bank of Paris, 115 Ky. 461, 74 S.W. 185, 78 S.W. 171, where the Court of Appeals stated:

“The description need not be such as would enable a stranger to select the property.

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344 F. Supp. 544, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 397, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14915, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-anselm-kywd-1972.