Leal v. Ford Motor Credit Co.

683 S.W.2d 719, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 1984
DocketNo. 13-83-003-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 683 S.W.2d 719 (Leal v. Ford Motor Credit Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leal v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 683 S.W.2d 719, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6159 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

YOUNG, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment granted against appellant, George V. Leal, in favor of appellee, Ford Motor Credit Company (FMCC). Appellant sued appellee for alleged violations of the Texas Consumer Credit Code, Article 5069-7.01, et seq., TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. (Vernon Supp. 1984), in a retail installment contract that he had signed in connection with the purchase of a used motor vehicle. The trial court found no violations of the Code. We affirm.

Appellant contracted with Yates Ford, Inc., on August 11, 1977, for the purchase of a used 1977 Ford Thunderbird. Appellant executed a document entitled “Texas Automobile Retail Instalment (sic) Contract,” which is an FMCC form contract. The retail contract was subsequently assigned to FMCC by Yates. In connection with the purchase of the 1977 Thunderbird, appellant executed a document entitled “Agreement to Provide Insurance” which covered the vehicle against risks of fire, theft and collision. Appellant completed making the monthly installment payments six months ahead of schedule. The record does not show that appellant was late on any payments, nor that appellee attempted to repossess the vehicle or accelerate the remaining monthly payments. Appellant did not file suit for actual damages for breach of warranty or dissatisfaction with the vehicle. The suit was filed for statutory penalties based on technical violations of the Texas Consumer Credit Code.

Appellant complains of six points of error which, basically, raise three legal issues. The first issue is whether appellee complied with Art. 5069-8.01(c) in correcting the violation of Art. 5069-7.07(4), TEX. REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. (Vernon Supp.1984) in the retail installment contract, and covers points of error one, two, three, and six.

Appellant’s first point of error is that appellee could not provide any correction notice of the violation of Art. 5069-7.-07(4) under Art. 5069-8.01(c)(l) because [721]*721Art. 5069-8.01(c)(l) is unconstitutional in that it impairs the obligations of parties to a contract. In Carbajal v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 658 S.W.2d 281 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1983, writ dism’d), this Court considered a constitutional attack on the same statute for being an impairment of the obligation of contracts. After careful consideration of that contention, it was found to be without merit and was overruled. This is the same constitutionality-question, except for the slightly different contention that the violation cannot be removed by compliance with an unconstitutional provision. We reach the same result as in Carbajal by concluding that Art. 5069-8.01(e)(l) is not unconstitutional and, therefore, overrule appellant’s first point of error.

Appellant’s second and third points of error challenge the trial court’s findings that appellee actually discovered that language in paragraph 19 of the installment contract violated Art. 5069-7.07(4) on May 6, 1981, and that a correction notice was sent to appellant’s attorney within sixty days of the date when appellee actually discovered the violation. These same two points of error were raised in Carbajal in almost identical fact situations and overruled by this Court.

The clause in the contract that allegedly violates Art. 5069-7.07(4) provides:

Any personalty in or attached to the Property when repossessed may be held by Seller without liability and Buyer shall be deemed to have waived any claim thereto unless written demand by certified mail is made upon Seller within 24 hours after repossession.

Art. 5069-7.07(4) provides that no retail installment contract shall:

(4) Provide for a waiver of the buyer’s rights of action against the seller or holder or other person acting therefor for any illegal act committed in the collection of payments under the contract or agreement or in the repossession of a motor vehicle[.]

On May 6, 1981, the Texas Supreme Court in Zapata v. Ford Motor Credit Company, 615 S.W.2d 198 (Tex.1981) ruled on conflicting holdings by the Courts of Appeals on whether the clause was a violation of the Texas Consumer Credit Code. It ruled that the waiver clause in a contract that was the same as in our case was in violation of public policy and the Texas Consumer Credit Code. See Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Zapata, 605 S.W.2d 362 (Tex. Civ.App. — Beaumont 1980); Tradewinds Ford Sales, Inc. v. Caskey, 600 S.W.2d 865 (Tex.Civ.App. — Eastland 1980)1 (finding no violation in the clause); Ford Motor Credit Co. v. McDaniel, 613 S.W.2d 513 (Tex.Civ.App. — Corpus Christi 1981, writ ref’d n.r. e.); and, Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Brown, 613 S.W.2d 521 (Tex.Civ.App. — Corpus Christi 1981, writ ref’d n.r.e.) (finding a violation).

In response to that ruling, FMCC almost immediately (May 7, 1981) mailed correction letters to 94,710 Ford credit purchasers in Texas to serve as a notice of the defect in the retail installment contract and a correction of that defect under Art. 5069-8.01(c)(1) which provides that:

(c)(1) A person has no liability to an obli-gor for a violation of this Subtitle or of Chapter 14 of this Title if within 60 days after having actually discovered such violation such person corrects such violation as to such obligor by performing the required duty or act or by refunding any amount in excess of that authorized by law; provided, however, that such person gives written notice to such obligor of such violation prior to such obligor having given written notice of or having filed an action alleging such violation of this Subtitle or of Chapter 14 of this Title.

Paragraph (c)(1) also explains the term “actually discovered”:

As used herein, the term “actually discovered” shall not be construed, interpreted, or applied in such manner as to refer to the time or date when, through reasonable diligence, an ordinarily pru[722]*722dent person could or should have discovered or known as a matter of law or fact of the violation in question, but such term shall be construed, interpreted, and applied to refer to the time of the discovery of the violation in fact, provided, however, that the actual discovery of such violation in one transaction may constitute actual discovery of the same violation in other transactions if the violation actually discovered is of such nature that it would necessarily be repeated and would be clearly apparent in such other transactions without the necessity of examining all such other transactions.

The only difference between this case and Carbajal is that the notice in this case was alleged to have been sent to appellant, rather than an attorney, as in Carbajal. The question is when appellee had actual notice of the violation of Art. 5069-7.07(4). As noted in Carbajal,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
683 S.W.2d 719, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leal-v-ford-motor-credit-co-texapp-1984.