In Re Boykins

120 B.R. 71, 13 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 233, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2191, 1990 WL 155713
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedJuly 20, 1990
Docket19-10586
StatusPublished

This text of 120 B.R. 71 (In Re Boykins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Boykins, 120 B.R. 71, 13 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 233, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2191, 1990 WL 155713 (Miss. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID W. HOUSTON, III, Bankruptcy Judge.

On consideration before the Court is the objection to confirmation of the debtors’ Chapter 13 plan filed by City Finance Company; each of the parties having submitted memoranda of law addressing the issues raised in the said objection; all parties being represented by their respective attorneys of record; and the Court having considered same, hereby finds as follows, to-wit:

I.

The Court has jurisdiction of the parties to and the subject matter of this proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334 and 28 U.S.C. § 157. This is a core proceeding as defined in 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A)(B)(L), and (0).

II.

On May 8, 1989, City Finance extended a renewal loan to the debtors totaling $2,620.80. This loan was evidenced by a combined promissory note and security agreement which encumbered specific items of personal property, all of which were separately identified on “Schedule A” attached to the document. In connection with a previous loan, which was renewed by this particular transaction, the debtors had executed a UCC-1 Financing Statement which had been filed for record with the Chancery Clerk of Monroe County, Mississippi, in March, 1989. The collateral covered by the financing statement was described as follows:

“Consumer Goods — consisting of personal property of all kinds and types located on or about Debtor’s residence stated above BUT NOT INCLUDING HOUSEHOLD GOODS as defined in FTC Rule, Code of Fed. Regs. § 444.l(i).”

The adequacy of this description in the financing statement constitutes one of the issues in this proceeding.

On June 17, 1989, the debtors purchased two diamond nugget watches and a diamond nugget ring from Standard Marketing Corporation for a total time price of $1,059.60. The total time price was secured by the items purchased as evidenced by a retail installment sale agreement/consumer credit installment contract executed by Willie Boykins. No financing statement was filed in connection with this transaction since it was considered a purchase money security interest in consumer goods. The contract was assigned by Standard Marketing Corporation to City Finance on *73 or about July 23, 1989, the date of the invoice introduced into evidence as City Finance Exhibit 2. Whether City Finance has a perfected security interest in this property constitutes the second issue in this proceeding.

(All Code sections set forth hereinbelow will be considered as Miss.Code Ann. (1972), unless specifically designated otherwise.)

III.

Because it can be resolved fairly quickly, the Court will address the second issue first.

Section 75 — 9—105(1)(¿) defines “security agreement” as “an agreement which creates or provides for a security interest.”

Section 75-9-107 provides the definition for “purchase money security interest” as follows:

A security interest is a ‘purchase money security interest’ to the extent that it is
(a) taken or retained by the seller of the collateral to secure all or part of its price; or
(b) taken by a person who by making advances or incurring an obligation gives value to enable the debtor to acquire rights in or the use of collateral if such value is in fact so used.

Section 75-9-203 is entitled “Attachment and enforceability of security interest; proceeds; formal requisites.” Subsections (1) and (2), thereunder, provide for the attachment of the security interest to collateral as follows:

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 75-4-208 on the security interest of a collecting bank and section 75-9-113 on a security interest arising under the chapter on Sales, a security interest is not enforceable against the debtor or third parties with respect to the collateral and does not attach unless
(a) the collateral is in the possession of the secured party pursuant to agreement, or the debtor has signed a security agreement which contains a description of the collateral and, in addition, when the security interest covers crops growing or to be grown or timber to be cut, a description of the land concerned; and
(b) value has been given; and
(c) the debtor has rights in the collateral.
(2) A security interest attaches when it becomes enforceable against the debtor with respect to the collateral. Attachment occurs as soon as all of the events specified in subsection (1) have taken place unless explicit agreement postpones the time of attaching.

Pursuant to § 75-9-302(l)(d), a purchase money security interest in consumer goods does not require the filing of a financing statement.

Section 75-9-109(1) states that consumer goods are goods that are “used or bought for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.” This is comparable to the “consumer debt” definition found in 11 U.S.C. § 101(7).

The Court is of the opinion that the two watches and the ring acquired from Standard Marketing Corporation fall within the definition of consumer goods. The transaction was obviously a purchase money transaction and the assignment from Standard Marketing Corporation to City Finance does not modify the character of the transaction. As such, the Court finds that City Finance effectively holds a purchase money security interest in the two watches and the ring acquired from Standard Marketing Corporation. The filing of a financing statement is not required to perfect City Finance’s lien in these items of property. All the requisites for the creation, attachment, and perfection of this lien have been met.

The debtors must, therefore, amend their Chapter 13 plan to provide payment to City Finance as a secured creditor for this collateral pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5). In support of this conclusion, please see this Court’s decision in In re Moody, 62 B.R. 282 (Bankr.N.D.Miss.1986).

IV.

The parties in this proceeding do not dispute that, insofar as they are con *74 cerned, a lien was created as a result of the execution of the combined promissory note and security agreement which clearly encumbered the several items of personal property listed on “Schedule A.” See City Finance Exhibit 1. They vigorously dispute, however, that this lien has been properly perfected.

When a secured transaction involves a nonpurchase money security interest in consumer goods, perfection is accomplished by filing a valid financing statement.

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Related

In Re Lehner
303 F. Supp. 317 (D. Colorado, 1969)
In Re Moody
62 B.R. 282 (N.D. Mississippi, 1986)
Mogul Enterprises, Inc. v. Commercial Credit Business Loans, Inc.
585 P.2d 1096 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
120 B.R. 71, 13 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 233, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2191, 1990 WL 155713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-boykins-msnb-1990.