In Re Dorsey Electric Supply Co.

344 F. Supp. 1171, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13120
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJune 21, 1972
DocketLR-70-B-394
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 344 F. Supp. 1171 (In Re Dorsey Electric Supply Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Dorsey Electric Supply Co., 344 F. Supp. 1171, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13120 (E.D. Ark. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

EISELE, District Judge.

This case comes to this Court on a petition for review of an order of the Referee in Bankruptcy disallowing Union National Bank’s Claim No. 1.

On September 26, 1968, the bankrupt, Dorsey Electric Supply Co., Inc., executed an inventory security agreement granting a security interest to the petitioner, Union National Bank of Little Rock, in all the bankrupt’s present and after-acquired inventory and the proceeds thereof. On October 3, 1968, financing statements were duly filed with the Circuit Clerk, Pulaski County, Arkansas, and with the Secretary of State, State of Arkansas. The inventory security agreement was collateral for a line of credit extended by petitioner to the bankrupt. It was understood between the parties that the limit on the line of credit was $65,000.00. The first advance on the line of credit was made on October 1, 1968, in the amount of $20,000.00. Additional advances were *1172 made on November 1, 1968, and December 27, 1968, in the amounts of $35,000.-00 and $10,000.00 respectively. The amount of the debt owed by the bankrupt to petitioner was evidenced by a series of thirty-day notes. The last of said notes was made on January 9, 1970, for $62,500.00 which represented the total amount advanced less credits. The balance due on this note on September 10, 1970, was the sum of $52,980.80. Collateral for all the notes was the inventory of the debtor.

On November 1, 1968, the bankrupt also executed a promissory note payable to the Union National Bank in the amount of $35,000.00, bearing interest and payable on November 3, 1969. To secure payment of this note the debtor executed to petitioner a deed of trust on certain real property in Pulaski County, Arkansas. That note recites that payment of the note “is secured by a deed of trust of even date.” Said note does not mention or describe or refer to the inventory security agreement dated September 26, 1968. By an extension agreement, payment of the note was extended to November 3, 1970.

On August 19, 1970, petitioner filed its proof of secured claim in the above bankruptcy. That proof of claim set out as Claim No. 1 the balance due under the promissory note secured by the inventory security agreement which was in the amount of $53,817.25. Claim No. 2 represented the balance due under the promissory note secured by the Deed of Trust which was in the amount of $37,458.75.

All of the assets of the bankrupt were sold at public sale and the proceeds from the sale of the mortgaged real property came to $54,000.00 from which sum the petitioner’s Claim No. 2 was paid in full, less expenses, leaving approximately $16,500.00. In addition, there was disbursed to petitioner, from the proceeds of the sale of the inventory the sum of $11,354.76 which was credited to Claim No. 1, leaving a balance due under that claim of $42,462.49.

Petitioner’s Claim No. 1 is predicated on the contention that the Deed of Trust on the real estate was security for all of the obligations due the bank from the Dorsey Electric Supply Co., Inc., arising after its execution on November 1, 1968.

The United States of America has a tax lien on all the property and rights to property of the bankrupt in the amount of $11,019.00 as reflected by its proof of claim filed October 14, 1970. It filed an objection to the allowance of the bank’s claim on November 10, 1970, alleging that Claim No. 1 was not secured by the bank's Deed of Trust on the real estate and that, from the $16,500.00 in the hands of the trustee, the government’s claim should be first satisfied.

Petitioner concedes that its Deed of Trust was not security for the antecedent indebtedness of $20,000.00, advanced to the bankrupt on October 1, 1968. As to the balance of funds advanced by the bank, the Referee found that they were not secured by the bank’s Deed of Trust and entered an order sustaining the government’s objection to the allowance of the claim.

It is agreed that the issues presented are controlled by Arkansas law.

It is clear that, under Arkansas law, parties to a mortgage or deed of trust may extend by contract the lien thereof to obligations, including future advances, other than those specifically described in the instrument. American Bank and Trust Co. v. First National Bank of Paris, Arkansas, 184 Ark. 689, 43 S.W.2d 248 (1931); Hendrickson v. Farmers’ Bank and Trust Co., 189 Ark. 423, 73 S.W.2d 725 (1934). There is no limitation upon the right to contract with respect to the extent of the debt to be secured by a mortgage, Hollan v. American Bank of Commerce & Trust Co., 168 Ark. 939, 272 S.W. 654 (1925), but provisions in deeds of trust which purport to extend the security to indebtedness other than the primary debt must be construed strictly. Berger v. Fuller, 180 Ark. 372, 21 S.W.2d 419.

*1173 In Hendickson, supra, the Court stated:

“As suggested by our early cases, in the construction of a mortgage the real question is, ‘What was the intention of the parties to the mortgage?’ In determining this, all the circumstances attendant upon the execution of the mortgage and the nature of the transaction itself are to be considered . ; and, in order to extend the intention of the parties beyond the primary purpose of the mortgage so as to secure the payment of debts other than those specifically mentioned, from our decisions and principles of natural justice the following rule may be deduced: Where a mortgage is given to secure a specific debt named, the security will not be extended as to antecedent debts unless the instrument so provides and identifies those intended to be secured in clear terms, and, to be extended to cover debts subsequently incurred, these must be of the same class and so related to the primary debt secured that the assent of the mortgagor will be inferred. The reason is that mortgages, by the use of general terms, ought never to be so extended as to secure debts which the debtor did not contemplate. ‘Where one contracts in good faith with a debtor that security given should include not only that specifically mentioned in the mortgage but other indebtedness, whether existing then or to be incurred in the future, it is not difficult to describe the nature and character thereof so that both the debtor and third parties may be fully advised as to the extent of the mortgage.’ American Bank & Trust Co. v. First National Bank of Paris, supra.” 189 Ark. at pages 433-434, 73 S.W.2d at page 729.

In National Bank of Eastern Arkansas v. Blankenship, 177 F.Supp. 667, 672 (D.C.1959), Judge Henley states:

“There is no question that under Arkansas law the parties to a mortgage or deed of trust may by contract extend the lien thereof to obligations other than those specifically described in the instrument, provided they express their intent to do so with sufficient definiteness. . . . Every mortgage is to be interpreted in the light of its own language, and ‘as there is no limitation upon the right to contract with reference to the extent of the debt secured by a mortgage . . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
344 F. Supp. 1171, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dorsey-electric-supply-co-ared-1972.