Keeling v. Ford Motor Credit Co.

550 A.2d 932, 314 Md. 311, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 227, 1988 Md. LEXIS 162
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedDecember 8, 1988
Docket151, September Term, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 550 A.2d 932 (Keeling v. Ford Motor Credit Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keeling v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 550 A.2d 932, 314 Md. 311, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 227, 1988 Md. LEXIS 162 (Md. 1988).

Opinions

RODOWSKY, Judge.

The principal question presented here is whether the lease of an automobile to the petitioner is governed by the [313]*313Retail Installment Sales Act (RISA), McLCode (1975, 1983 Repl.Vol.), Title 12, Subtitle 6 of the Commercial Law Article.1

Petitioner, Carmen A. Keeling (Keeling), by a paper writing headed “Net (Closed End) Lease” and dated June 20, 1984, in terms leased from Champion Ford in Baltimore City a new 1984 Ford Escort two-door sedan equipped with radio and automatic transmission but without air conditioning or power steering.2 The form lease contemplated immediate assignment to Ford Motor Credit Company (Ford Credit), the respondent, and it was so assigned. The lessees defaulted after making payments for the first two months. Ford Credit repossessed the vehicle in January 1985 by which time it had been driven approximately 10,700 miles. Ford Credit sold the car at auction and then sued Keeling in the District Court of Maryland in Baltimore City for the resulting deficiency. Keeling’s principal defense was that RISA barred a deficiency judgment because Ford Credit failed to give required notices. The District Court concluded that the arrangement was a lease and not an installment sale governed by RISA. That court entered judgment for Ford Credit. In an appeal on the record the Circuit Court for Baltimore City affirmed, having similarly analyzed the transaction to be a “ ‘true’ lease.” We granted Keeling’s petition for certiorari.

Under RISA a person (the “holder”) who is entitled to enforce an “installment sale agreement” against a buyer may repossess goods sold under the agreement if the buyer is in default. Under § 12-624(d) the holder “[wjithin five days after he repossesses the goods ... shall deliver to the buyer ... a written notice” concerning the buyer’s right of redemption and to a resale, the buyer’s liability for a deficiency and the location of the goods. If the installment [314]*314sale agreement provides for liability for a deficiency and if the holder “has complied with all requirements of [RISA], including the notice requirement of § 12-624(d),” then the buyer may be liable for a deficiency. See § 12-626(e)(4). It was stipulated at trial that Ford Credit had not sent the § 12-624(d) notice. Thus, if the subject lease is an installment sale agreement, Keeling is not liable for any deficiency.

The statute to be construed in this case is § 12-601(Z), which reads:

“Installment sale agreement. — (1) ‘Installment sale agreement’ means a contract for the retail sale of goods, negotiated or entered into in this State, under which:
(1) Part or all of the price is payable in one or more payments after the making of the contract; and
(ii) The seller takes collateral security or keeps a security interest in the goods sold.
(2) ‘Installment sale agreement’ includes:
(i) A prospective installment sale agreement;
(ii) A purchase money security agreement; and
(iii) A contract for the bailment or leasing of goods under which the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation a sum that is substantially equal to or is more than the value of the goods.
(3) ‘Installment sale agreement’ does not include a bona fide C.O.D. transaction or a layaway agreement as defined in § 14-1101(g) of this article.”

In State v. Action TV Rentals, Inc., 297 Md. 531, 467 A.2d 1000 (1983), we read § 12-601(Z )(2), which “includes” three types of contracts within the definition of “installment sale agreement,” to enlarge the basic definition of § 12-601(Z)(1) and not merely to illustrate it. The basic definition requires that part or all of the “price” be payable in one or more installments but “[i]n a lease transaction payments are not, in form, paid toward price, but for use. Section 12 — 601(Z )(2)(iii) is the legislative test for determining cases in which substance will prevail over form for the [315]*315purpose of subjecting the nominal lease to RISA.” Id. at 548, 467 A.2d at 1009. In the leases involved in Action TV Rentals the lessees had not contracted to pay future installments. Those lessees paid cash in advance, usually for one week at a time, and could terminate without liability for any future payments. In the case now before us Keeling was obligated to make the lease payments for the term of the lease. Consequently, we must determine whether what is, in form, a lease to Keeling is, in substance, an installment sale agreement.

At trial in the District Court the only witness was a representative of Ford Credit who proved the lease and the deficiency as matters of business record. The lease is a printed form in which the specifics of this particular transaction were inserted by hand while the remaining provisions are “boilerplate.” The lease was to run for forty-eight months from June 20, 1984, at a monthly rent, excluding rental tax, of $144.51 so that the total rent payments over the full term would have been $6,936.48. The lessee had to obtain comprehensive, collision and liability insurance and pay all operating, maintenance and repair costs excluding normal wear and tear.3 The lessee paid all fees and taxes on the vehicle which was to be “titled in the name of Ford Credit” and “registered as directed by Ford Credit.” There were no warranties under the lease, although “[t]he Lessee may receive a separate written warranty on the Vehicle.” The lessee paid all taxes, other than income taxes, charged to the lessor by reason of the lessor’s interest in the vehicle and the lessee was obliged to indemnify the lessor and Ford Credit “from all claims, losses and costs arising out of the [316]*316use or condition of the Vehicle.” Keeling paid a $175 “Refundable Security Deposit.”

The lease provided for an excess mileage charge at the end of the lease of six cents per mile for each mile in excess of 60,000 or, on earlier termination, on a prorated basis. With respect to “Return of the Vehicle” the lease provided:

“At the end of this Lease, the Lessee will return the Vehicle to the Lessor’s address shown above or to such other place as Ford Credit may direct. If the Lessee keeps possession of the Vehicle past the end of the lease term, the Lessee shall continue to pay the monthly rental payments____ That payment shall not permit the Lessee to keep the Vehicle. The Lessee also shall pay to the Lessor any damage which the Lessor may have because the Lessee failed to return the Vehicle at lease end.”

There is no option to purchase on the part of the lessee. Indeed, the document contains an express disclaimer that there is any purchase option.

If the lessee defaults, the lease provides that the lessor may repossess and sell at public or private sale, with or without notice to the lessee. On default the monthly payments for the balance of the lease term are accelerated. The lessor and lessee agree that “[t]he Lessor will subtract from the amount owed sums received from the sale of the Vehicle in excess of what the Lessor would have had invested in the Vehicle at the end of the lease term.”

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Anderson v. Ford Motor Credit Corp.
593 A.2d 678 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1991)
Moore v. Ford Motor Credit Co.
778 S.W.2d 657 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1989)
Woodson v. Ford Motor Credit Co. (In Re Cole)
100 B.R. 561 (N.D. Oklahoma, 1989)
Keeling v. Ford Motor Credit Co.
550 A.2d 932 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1988)
Maryland National Bank v. Merson
239 A.2d 905 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
550 A.2d 932, 314 Md. 311, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 227, 1988 Md. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keeling-v-ford-motor-credit-co-md-1988.