Lundquist Buick-Opel, Inc. v. Wikoff

659 S.W.2d 466, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5063
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 15, 1983
Docket13-82-272-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 659 S.W.2d 466 (Lundquist Buick-Opel, Inc. v. Wikoff) 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
Lundquist Buick-Opel, Inc. v. Wikoff, 659 S.W.2d 466, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5063 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

BISSETT, Justice.

This is an appeal from the granting of a summary judgment. The suit arose out of a retail installment contract dated August 25, 1977, between appellee Ronald Wikoff, as buyer, and appellant Lundquist Buick-Opel, Inc., as seller, for the purchase of a new 1977 Buick Le Sabre automobile. Plaintiff, in his trial petition, alleged that the above-mentioned contract violated the “Texas Credit Code” in the following particulars:

“1. Defendant has incorrectly, or alternatively, failed to accurately disclose the aggregate amount of official fees in violation of Article 5069-7.02(6)(e) V.A.T.S.
2. The contract fails to disclose the kind, coverage, term, and amount of premium for the insurance sold or procured in connection with the retail installment transaction in violation of Article 5069-7.06(5) V.A.T.S.
3. The Retail Installment Contract provides that the Buyer will not assert agaist (sic) the Seller or Assignee any claims or defenses he might have arising out of the sale in violation of Article 5069-7(6) V.A. T.S.
4. The Retail Installment Contract has contractually provided for the right to accelerate the maturity of the contract under provisions expressly prohibited by the Texas Credit Code in violation of Article 5069-7.07(1).”

Plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment on April 2, 1982, wherein he alleged that the summary judgment evidence showed that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact. He further alleged that the pleadings, and the summary judgment evidence established as a matter of law that the contract in question violated the Texas Credit Code, as particularly alleged by him in his trial petition.

On June 18, 1982, plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment was granted for the following reasons:

“1. Defendant has incorrectly, or alternatively, failed to accurately disclose the aggregate amount of official fees in violation of Article 5069-7.02(6)(e) V.A.T.S.
2. The Retail Installment Contract provides that the buyer will not assert against the Seller or Assignee any claims or defenses he may have arising out of the sale, in violation of Article 5069-7.-07(6) V.A.T.S.
3. The Retail Installment Contract has contractually provided for the right to accelerate the maturity of the contract under provisions expressly prohibited by the Texas Credit Code in violation of Article 5069-7.07(1).”

Appellant was ordered to pay statutory penalties in the amount of Two Thousand *468 Eight Hundred Ninety-one and 86/100 Dollars ($2,891.86), that being twice the amount of time-price differential contracted for. Appellant was also ordered to pay reasonable attorney’s fees.

On June 29,1982, a final judgment, which incorporated the holding and provisions of the summary judgment previously granted, was entered in which reasonable attorney’s fees were awarded to appellee in the following amounts: 1) $1,500.00 in the trial court; 2) an additional $2,500.00 in the event of an appeal to the Court of Appeals; 3) an additional $500.00 in the event an application for Writ of Error is filed; and, 4) an additional $1,500.00 in the event the application for Writ of Error is granted. All amounts awarded were to bear interest.

Appellant attacks the summary judgment in six points of error. The first three points relate to the asserted error of the trial court in holding that the charging of a $2.00 State inspection fee for the vehicle sold under the contract constituted a violation of the Texas Credit Code. In its first point, appellant contends that it “did not, as a matter of law, violate Article 5069-7.-02(6)(e) with regard to the disclosure of ‘official fees’.” It contends in the second point that “there was no summary judgment evidence that the ‘official fees’ set out on the retail installment contract in question were not fees prescribed by law.” It is asserted in the third point that the disclosure on the retail contract in question relating to ‘official fees’ substantially complied with Article 5069-7.01 et seq., and any violation was “de minimis.”

The contract states that defendant charged plaintiff $2.00 for a state inspection fee, an “official fee”.

This Court has previously addressed the proposition of whether or not an inspection fee qualified as an official fee under Article 5069-7.02(6)(e) Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. (Vernon Supp.1982-83), as it existed prior to its amendment in 1979. See Wayne Strand Pontiae-GMC, Inc., et ah v. Molina, 653 S.W.2d 45 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1982, writ ref’d n.r.e.). As pointed out in the majority opinion, which has been approved by our Supreme Court, this type of charge is governed by the Doctrine of De Minimis. Although the charge is a technical violation of the statute, it is not such a violation which will authorize a recovery under the statute. Wayne Strand supra, at 47. Its first and second points of error are overruled. Its third point of error is sustained.

Appellant in its fourth point of error, complains that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment, since the retail installment contract in question does not provide that the buyer agrees not to assert against the seller or holder any claim or defense he may have arising out of the sale.

The language of the contract in question which is pertinent to this alleged violation reads:

“Rights Exclusive of Default (1) This Security Agreement, Secured Party’s rights hereunder and the indebtedness hereby secured may be assigned, and in any such case the Assignee shall be entitled to all of the rights, privileges and remedies granted in this Security Agreement to Secured Party, and Debtor will assert no claims or defenses he may have against Secured Party against the Asignee (sic), except those granted in the Security Agreement.” (emphasis ours)

The contract also provides

“ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE PROCEEDS HEREOF.”

The contract further recites that [t]he law governing this secured transaction shall be. that of the State of Texas in force at the date of this instrument.

In substance, the above-quoted provisions of the contract provide that the contract may be assigned by the seller, and in the event of such assignment, the buyer will not assert against the seller’s assignee *469 any claim or defense against such assignee arising out of the sale to the buyer by the seller which the buyer may have against the seller (assignor). The language does not deal with any act or event arising out of the sale to buyer, but deals only with events which occur after the sale, i.e., the assignment of the note and security by the seller to a third party.

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Bluebook (online)
659 S.W.2d 466, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lundquist-buick-opel-inc-v-wikoff-texapp-1983.