Midland Bean Company v. Farmers State Bank

552 P.2d 317
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 6, 1976
Docket75-194
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 552 P.2d 317 (Midland Bean Company v. Farmers State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midland Bean Company v. Farmers State Bank, 552 P.2d 317 (Colo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

552 P.2d 317 (1976)

MIDLAND BEAN COMPANY, a Colorado Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The FARMERS STATE BANK OF BRUSH, a Bank chartered by the State of Colorado, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 75-194.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. II.

March 25, 1976.
As Modified on Denial of Rehearings May 6, 1976.

*319 Geddes, Sparks, MacDougall & McHugh, P. C., M. E. MacDougall, Colorado Springs, for plaintiff-appellant.

C. H. Anderson, Edgar H. Brandenburg, Robert B. Chapin, Brush, for defendant-appellee.

Selected for Official Publication.

STERNBERG, Judge.

Brush Elevator Company borrowed money from defendant, Farmers State Bank of Brush, which took and duly perfected a security interest in the assets of Brush Elevator. When Brush Elevator defaulted, the bank, as secured creditor, took possession of Brush Elevator's assets for the purpose of liquidating the business. Plaintiff, Midland Bean Company, alleged ownership of beans which it had bought but not received from Brush Elevator. Midland made demand on the bank for the beans. When the bank refused to deliver, this damage suit followed. After trial to court, all of plaintiff's claims for relief were dismissed and judgment was granted the bank on one of its counterclaims. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Midland claimed that between September 4, 1971, and May 4, 1972, it purchased over 9,000,000 pounds of U.S. No. 1 Pinto beans from Brush Elevator. Midland issued drafts to Brush Elevator, evidencing these purchases which were endorsed by Brush Elevator and duly cashed. Of these purchases, Midland, by its own count, ultimately received by shipment or credit all but 962,170 pounds of these beans. On May 10, 1972, the bank participated in a Small Business Administration guaranteed loan of $140,000 to Brush Elevator, taking a security interest in all assets of Brush *320 Elevator, including inventory, accounts receivable, and contractual rights. The bank's financing statements were filed in the proper counties on May 11 and 12, 1972. On September 13, 1972, the president and major shareholder of Brush Elevator abandoned his duties, left the area, and did not return, thereby precipitating a default on Brush Elevator's obligations on the loan. Neither Midland nor the bank had actual knowledge that the other claimed any ownership or security interest in beans until after Brush Elevator defaulted.

On September 19, 1972, the date the bank took possession of the assets of Brush Elevator, an inventory of the beans in the elevator was taken. This inventory and records of the later liquidation accounts of the bank indicated that the only 1971 U.S. No. 1 Pinto beans stored in the elevator on that date were those owned by the growers thereof. The ownership of these growers' beans was evidenced by "scale tickets" issued to and held by such growers and confirmed by "settlement sheets" in the records of Brush Elevator. All other beans stored on that date were either broken beans, seed beans, or growers' beans from the harvest of 1972. Between September 19, 1972, and January 31, 1973, the bank operated the elevator and honored in full the claims of all the growers.

I. DRAFTS AS DOCUMENTS OF TITLE

Midland's claim of ownership rights in the beans is based solely on 44 drafts it issued and addressed to Brush Elevator which it contends are nonnegotiable "documents of title" under § 4-1-201(15), C.R.S. 1973, of the Uniform Commercial Code. The trial court found in the alternative that these drafts were: (a) not documents of title under the UCC, but (b) even if they were documents of title, plaintiff gained no rights thereunder as against the bank or the growers.

By § 4-1-201(15), C.R.S. 1973, a document of title is defined to include:

"[B]ill of lading, dock warrant, dock receipt, warehouse receipt, or order for the delivery of goods, and also any other document which in the regular course of business or financing is treated as adequately evidencing that the person in possession of it is entitled to receive, hold, and dispose of the document and the goods it covers. To be a document of title, a document must purport to be issued by or addressed to a bailee and purport to cover goods in the bailee's possession which are either identified or are fungible portions of an identified mass." (emphasis supplied)

Since the drafts in question here were addressed to Brush Elevator, a bailee, and since they purported to cover goods in the bailee's possession, which are fungible portions of an identified mass, they come within the definition of documents of title if they were treated in the regular course of business as evidencing ownership of the goods they purport to cover.

Several sections of the UCC guide us in determining whether the drafts meet this last requirement for being documents of title. In particular, the following illuminate the issue:

"This title shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies [which purposes and policies include] [t]o permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage, and agreement of the parties. . . ." Section 4-1-102, C.R.S. 1973.
"Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity, including the law merchant. . . or other validating or invalidating cause shall supplement its provisions." Section 4-1-103, C.R.S. 1973.
"(1) A course of dealing is a sequence of previous conduct between the parties to a particular transaction which is fairly to be regarded as establishing a common *321 basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct. (2) A usage of trade is any practice or method of dealing having such regularity of observance in a place, vocation, or trade as to justify an expectation that it will be observed with respect to the transaction in question. The existence and scope of such a usage are to be proved as facts. . . . (3) A course of dealing between parties and any usage of trade in the vocation or trade in which they are engaged or of which they are or should be aware give particular meaning to and supplement or qualify terms of an agreement.. . ." Section 4-1-205, C.R.S. 1973.

And finally, the comment to the definition of documents of title states:

"The definition is stated in terms of the function of the documents with the intention that any document which gains commercial recognition as accomplishing the desired result shall be included within its scope."

At the trial, Midland introduced extensive and uncontroverted evidence that it always purchased beans by use of drafts which had the kind of beans and number of pounds purchased written on them. Both the secretary-treasurer and the president of Midland stated that they considered that such drafts evidenced their ownership of the beans so purchased even when the beans remained in storage. Also, they testified that no other document, such as a warehouse receipt, ever passed between them and Brush Elevator. Moreover, two other witnesses, not parties to this action, who were in the business of purchasing beans, testified that in their businesses, they used similar drafts as the sole documents evidencing purchase and ownership, and that such was the custom in the bean business. Finally, the record indicated that defendant bank itself, after it took over the operation of Brush Elevator, bought beans solely by means of similar drafts.

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Bluebook (online)
552 P.2d 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midland-bean-company-v-farmers-state-bank-coloctapp-1976.