Memphis Bank & Trust Co. v. Pate

362 So. 2d 1245, 25 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 882, 1978 Miss. LEXIS 2160
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 20, 1978
Docket50578
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 362 So. 2d 1245 (Memphis Bank & Trust Co. v. Pate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Memphis Bank & Trust Co. v. Pate, 362 So. 2d 1245, 25 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 882, 1978 Miss. LEXIS 2160 (Mich. 1978).

Opinion

362 So.2d 1245 (1978)

MEMPHIS BANK & TRUST COMPANY
v.
Leland D. PATE.

No. 50578.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

September 20, 1978.

*1246 Yancy & Easley, Cliff R. Easley, Jr., Bruce, Gary L. Jewel, Memphis, Tenn., for appellant.

Meek & Meek, Buchanan Meek, Jr., Eupora, for appellee.

Before PATTERSON, C.J., and BROOM and LEE, JJ.

LEE, Justice, for the Court:

Memphis Bank & Trust Company filed suit in the Circuit Court of Webster County against Leland D. Pate, seeking possession of an automobile. Judgment was entered in favor of Pate and Memphis Bank & Trust Company has appealed, assigning the following errors in the trial below:

(1) The execution sale was void, therefore, Springer received no title to the subject vehicle at that sale and cannot convey more than he received.

(2) The lien of the appellant is valid in Mississippi and superior to the interests of Springer and Pate.

(3) The procedure described by the Motor Vehicle Act is exclusive for protecting security interests, therefore, even if Mississippi Code Annotated Section 75-9-307 (2) (1972) applies, appellant has a recorded security interest.

(4) The judge erred in his determination that Subsection (2) of Mississippi Code Annotated Section 75-9-307 (1972) allowed Pate to take free and clear the security interest of appellant.

The appellant is a state banking institution chartered under the laws of the State of Tennessee with its principal place of business in Memphis. On February 6, 1976, one Lester Eugene Tuck, a resident of Memphis, purchased a 1976 Datsun station wagon from Pat Patterson Motor Sales, Inc., (in Memphis) and executed an installment sales contract and security agreement. This security agreement was assigned to appellant on the same date and the lien of appellant on the station wagon was perfected March 1, 1976, when the bank's lien was shown on the Tennessee certificate of title.

Tuck became delinquent in his monthly payments on the contract. He was contacted by the bank on September 28, 1976, at which time he advised that the station wagon had been attached. The bank notified *1247 its attorney, but the automobile was sold at a sheriff's execution sale in Memphis on October 5, 1976. The vehicle was purchased at the sale by T.J. Springer, manager of Springer Motor Company in Mantee, Mississippi. He listed his address as being in Memphis. Springer paid four hundred seventy-five ($475.00) for the vehicle and it was subsequently sold by him (Springer Motor Company) to the appellee for the sum of thirty-one hundred dollars ($3,100.00). Pate purchased the vehicle for family purposes.

Appellant was unable to locate Springer in Memphis, and finally, through the Motor Vehicle Comptroller's Office in Mississippi, ascertained that a tag had been obtained by appellee and also determined that Springer had sold the vehicle to him. Appellee did not know about the lien until he was notified in 1977. He had purchased the vehicle to be used as a family vehicle and for personal use.

I.

Was the execution sale void preventing T.J. Springer from conveying title to Leland D. Pate?

Appellant argues that regardless of whether the execution sale was void, as it contends pursuant to Chumbley v. Carrick, 194 Tenn. 612, 254 S.W.2d 732 (1953); Franklin Savings & Loan Corporation v. Snapp, 179 Tenn. 151, 163 S.W.2d 332 (1942); Tibbs v. Zimmerman, 26 Tenn. App. 321, 171 S.W.2d 832 (1941); and Evans v. Belmont Land Company, 92 Tenn. 348, 21 S.W. 670 (1893); the sale was ineffective to vest title in Springer and did not terminate or supersede appellant's perfected security interest, and was subject to that interest.

Mississippi Code Annotated Section 75-9-202 (1972) provides: "Each provision of this chapter with regard to rights, obligations and remedies applies whether title to collateral is in the secured party or in the debtor."

79 C.J.S. Supplement Secured Transactions § 61, at 66 (1974) provides:

"A purchaser of collateral at an execution sale conducted without regard to any default on the part of the debtor acquires only the title of debtor, and the collateral continues subject to the lien of the secured party."

In Allstate Insurance v. Estes, 345 So.2d 265 (Miss. 1977), this Court held that a purchaser can acquire only that interest which the seller had.

Powell v. Whirlpool Emp. Federal Credit Union, 42 Mich. App. 228, 201 N.W.2d 683 (1972), holds that an execution sale passes only the interest held by the debtor and any purchaser takes subject to a validly perfected security interest.

In Tennessee, a security interest in an automobile is perfected by noting on the certificate of title the lien and the name of the lienholder [Tenn. Code Ann. § 59-327]. Appellant claims that the sale was void. The Tennessee statute was complied with in the present case, and we are of the opinion that the sheriff's sale, if not void under Tennessee decisions, was subject to appellant's interest.

II.

Was appellant's lien on the vehicle still valid in Mississippi?

III.

Is the procedure prescribed by the Motor Vehicle Title Law the exclusive means for protecting the security interest in question?

Mississippi Code Annotated Section 75-9-103 (1972) read in part as follows:

"(3) If personal property other than that governed by subsections (1) and (2) is already subject to a security interest when it is brought into this state, the validity of the security interest in this state is to be determined by the law (including the conflict of laws rules) of the jurisdiction where the property was when the security interest attached. However, if the parties to the transaction understood at the time that the security interest attached that the property would be kept in this state and it was brought into this state within thirty (30) days *1248 after the security interest attached for purposes other than transportation through this state, then the validity of the security interest in this state is to be determined by the law of this state. If the security interest was already perfected under the law of the jurisdiction where the property was when the security interest attached and before being brought into this state, the security interest continues perfected in this state for four (4) months and also thereafter if within the four-month period it is perfected in this state. The security interest may also be perfected in this state after the expiration of the four-month period; in such case perfection dates from the time of perfection in this state. If the security interest was not perfected under the law of the jurisdiction where the property was when the security interest attached and before being brought into this state, it may be perfected in this state; in such case perfection dates from the time of perfection in this state.

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Bluebook (online)
362 So. 2d 1245, 25 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 882, 1978 Miss. LEXIS 2160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/memphis-bank-trust-co-v-pate-miss-1978.