Marco Finance Co. v. Solbert Industries, Inc.

534 S.W.2d 469, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 512, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 1874
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 31, 1975
DocketNo. KCD 27008
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 534 S.W.2d 469 (Marco Finance Co. v. Solbert Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marco Finance Co. v. Solbert Industries, Inc., 534 S.W.2d 469, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 512, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 1874 (Mo. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

SWOFFORD, Presiding Judge.

This is the second appeal of this action in replevin. On the first appeal, the Supreme Court reversed a judgment for Solbert Industries, Inc. (Solbert) entered on its motion for directed verdict at the close of plaintiff’s [Marco Finance Company (Marco)] case and remanded the action for a new trial. 490 S.W.2d 13 (Mo.1973).

The second trial, the source of this appeal, was before a jury and resulted in a verdict and judgment for Marco and against Solbert in the amount of $9,414.00. The court below, upon after trial motion, set this judgment aside and entered judgment for Solbert. It is from this latter judgment that Marco appeals.

This court has ordered up the Circuit Court file and the transcript in the first appeal. They have been carefully reviewed and the transcript in the first trial compared with the transcript in this appeal. From this, it appears that the evidence offered by Marco in the first trial was substantially the same as that offered in the trial below, with no differences pertinent to the issue here involved. The opinion of the Supreme Court sets out in detail Marco’s evidence in the first trial. For the purpose of this second appeal, relevant facts may be thus summarized:

W. B. Baker was a commission salesman for, stockholder in, and vice president of, the corporation, Malt Village Franchisers, Inc. (Malt Village). In 1967, he also became a franchisee of Malt Village under the terms of which franchise Malt Village equipped a type of ice cream parlor at 11810 Blue Ridge Extension, in Kansas City, and placed Baker in possession thereof. The basic dispute involved here is the ownership and right to possession of, and security interest in, the equipment in this shop.

To purchase the equipment, Baker paid approximately $2,200.00 in cash and executed a promissory note to Malt Village, dated July 14, 1967, in the face amount of $16,960.00, and a Security Agreement pledging such equipment as collateral to secure such loan.

Prior to this, and before the equipment had been installed in the premises, Baker also executed a “Financing Statement” on July 6, 1967, covering this equipment and showing him as debtor, Malt Village as secured party, and Marco as assignee. This Financing Statement was filed in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Jackson County, Missouri on the same day it was executed, July 6, 1967, and in the office of the Secretary of State of Missouri on July 12, 1967. Baker later defaulted in the payments on the promissory note and Marco, [471]*471asserting its rights as assignee thereof, sought to replevin the equipment involved in this suit. However, the equipment had theretofore been seized under an attachment by Solbert, which company, acting through its secretary and attorney Chester Kaplan, subsequently secured a default judgment in the Magistrate Court against Malt Village for unpaid rent on the building. During the pendency of this replevin action and at a time when Kaplan knew of its pendency and that Marco was represented by counsel, and after the Circuit Court had issued a delivery order for the personal property, Solbert, through Kaplan, requested the Magistrate Court to sell the equipment. This was accomplished and the equipment sold for about $1,350.00.

Solbert’s connection with this matter arose by reason of the fact that it had agreed with Malt Village, acting through Baker, to construct the malt shop on Blue Ridge Extension and lease it to Malt Village. This was done. The lessee, Malt Village, was in default in the rental payments in January, 1968, which fact ultimately resulted in the Magistrate Court attachment suit and seizure and sale of the personal property located on such premises, which, in fact, was owned by Baker and encumbered to Malt Village, which encumbrance had been assigned to Marco.

In the second trial of the case, Solbert offered the evidence of two witnesses, whose testimony largely reiterated the facts above summarized, but with these exceptions and additions:

Sol Silberg, president of Solbert, stated that all of his dealings with. Malt Village had been with Baker; that Baker did not advise him that he was a franchisee and would operate the business as such on Blue Ridge Extension; that he never received any rent directly from Baker under the lease; that he was never advised that there was a “mortgage” on the equipment; that he at all times thought the personal property was owned by Malt Village; and, that he had turned the matter over to Solbert’s attorney, Kaplan, to do what was necessary to collect the unpaid rent and secure possession of the premises, and that he had no personal connection with the proceedings thereafter.

Chester Kaplan testified as to his connection with Solbert; that sometime between March 10th and 15th, 1968, with Malt Village in default, he found the shop premises vacated and locked; that he checked both the records in the Recorder’s office and those of the Secretary of State, under the name of “Malt Village Franchising, Inc.” and found no record of any lien on the equipment; that he then instituted the Magistrate Court suit and caused the property to be attached, stored and sold under execution in May, 1968; and that no one ever advised him that there was any “mortgage” on the equipment.

Kaplan testified that the Constable in the Magistrate Court attached the property on March 25,1968 and it was thereupon placed in storage. The instant replevin suit was filed April 4, 1968, and Kaplan, as registered service agent for Solbert, was served with petition and summons. He thereupon contacted Austin Van Buskirk, then attorney for Marco, on April 7th or April 8th, 1968, and advised Van Buskirk that Solbert did not have possession of the property; that it was under the control and in the possession of the Magistrate Court, and invited Van Buskirk to “enter Marco’s appearance” in the magistrate suit. Kaplan further stated that when he was served with summons in this suit, he saw the Security Agreement attached to Marco’s petition. He stated that he thereafter requested the Magistrate Court to order sale of the property even though he then knew Marco was claiming right to possession and ownership thereof under this replevin action.

In this appeal, the law of the case, as declared in the opinion of the Supreme Court in the first appeal, 490 S.W.2d 13, is binding upon this court so far as applicable to the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s evidence to make a submissible case for the jury.

[472]*472No amendment to the pleadings occurred preliminary to this trial and the plaintiff’s evidence was substantially the same in all essential details. The law of the case rule applies where the pleadings (issues) are the same, and there is no substantial difference in the evidence. State ex rel. Curtis v. Broaddus, 238 Mo. 189, 142 S.W. 340, 342 (banc 1911); Williams v. Ford Motor Company, 454 S.W.2d 611, 614[3 — 5] (Mo.App.1970), and cases cited therein.

The holdings of the court in the first appeal, as to the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s evidence, was that it permitted a jury to reasonably find certain facts.

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Related

Green v. Stanfill
641 S.W.2d 490 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1982)
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574 S.W.2d 471 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
534 S.W.2d 469, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 512, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 1874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marco-finance-co-v-solbert-industries-inc-moctapp-1975.