Morris v. Citifinancial (In Re Trible)

290 B.R. 838, 50 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 286, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 198, 2003 WL 1191865
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 12, 2003
Docket16-21486
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 290 B.R. 838 (Morris v. Citifinancial (In Re Trible)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris v. Citifinancial (In Re Trible), 290 B.R. 838, 50 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 286, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 198, 2003 WL 1191865 (Kan. 2003).

Opinion

*840 CORRECTED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER 1

ROBERT E. NUGENT, Chief Judge.

This is an adversary proceeding brought pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544. 2 The trustee seeks to avoid Citifinancial’s lien in the debtor’s mobile home and preserve the avoided lien for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate. The central issue in this case is whether Citifinancial’s security interest in the debtor’s mobile home is properly perfected. 3

The mobile home is attached to real estate owned by the debtor in Wichita, Kansas. Citifinancial claims perfection of its security interest in the mobile home and real estate (together, the “Property”) by virtue of its real estate mortgage. The trustee claims Citifinancial’s lien in the mobile home is unperfected because the lien is not indicated on the mobile home’s certificate of title. The trustee argues that under applicable Kansas law, the exclusive method of perfecting a lien in a mobile home is by notation of the hen on the certificate of title.

This case was submitted to the Court upon stipulated facts and exhibits and the briefs of the parties. The Court has reviewed the parties’ submissions and makes the following findings.

On August 9, 2000, the debtor executed a combined Disclosure Statement, Note and Security Agreement and a Mortgage in favor of Citifinancial. The debtor intended to grant Citifinancial a hen in the Property. The debtor was in possession of the mobile home. 4 Citifinancial holds a validly perfected real estate mortgage on the real estate. The trustee claims no interest in the real estate.

On August 29, 2000 the debtor filed his bankruptcy petition under Chapter 7. The trustee became a lien creditor on this date. See K.S.A. 84-9-301(3). The debtor has claimed the Property as his exempt homestead and the claimed has not been challenged. At the time of filing, the debtor owed Citifinancial $36,460.72 as evidenced by Citifinancial’s proof of claim. On December 18, 2000, the trustee filed this adversary proceeding to avoid Citifinancial’s lien. The trustee and the debtor entered into an Agreed Order Resolving Adversary Action on January 23, 2001. During the pendency of the adversary action, the trustee, debtor and Citifinancial entered into an Agreed Order concerning the debt- or’s post-petition payments on the mobile home.

The 1987 mobile home is a mobile/manufactured home as defined in the Kansas Manufactured Housing Act, K.S.A. 58- *841 4202(a) and (b). 5 It is not a modular home. Citifinancial did not file a notice of security interest with the Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles. Nor is Citifinancial identified as a lienholder on the mobile home’s certificate of title.

The Property is taxed as real estate. The mobile home is not separately taxed as personal property. The trustee and Citifinancial stipulated to an appraised value of $63,500 for the property. The stipulated appraisal initially submitted does not allocate the value between the land and the improvements. The Sedgwick County property data listing for the Property shows a total appraised value for 2000 of $43,070, with $10,600 (24.61%) allocated to the value of the land and $32,470 (75.39%) allocated to the value of the mobile home. There is no other evidence upon which the Court may base an allocation.

ANALYSIS

Perfection

At the outset, the Court observes that former Article 9 and other related statutory provisions concerning titling and perfection of liens in titled property have changed or been added since the Kansas Court of Appeals’ decision in Beneficial Finance Co. v. Schroeder, 12 Kan.App.2d 150, 737 P.2d 52, rev. denied 241 Kan. 838 (1987). A review of Article 9 and the statutes in place at the time Schroeder was decided make clear that perfection of a security interest in a mobile home was accomplished in the same fashion as perfecting a security interest in a vehicle. At the time Schroeder was decided in 1987, the relevant perfection rules of Article 9 under the Kansas Uniform Commercial Code were contained in K.S.A. 84-9-302(3)(c), which provided:

A security interest in: ... (c) a vehicle ... subject to a statute of this state which requires indication on a certificate of title or a duplicate thereof of such security interests in such vehicle: Can be perfected only by presentation, for the purpose of such registration or such filing or such indication, of the documents appropriate under any such statute and tender of the required fee to or acceptance of the documents by such public official, or by the mailing or delivery by a dealer or secured party to the appropriate state agency of a notice of security interest as prescribed by K.S.A. 8-135 and amendments thereto. Such presentation and tender or acceptance or mailing or delivery, shall have the same effect under this article as filing under this article, and such perfection shall have the same effect under this article as perfection by filing under this article. [Emphasis added].

The definition of a “vehicle” under Chapter 8, Article 1 of the Kansas Statutes at the time of Schroeder included within its meaning a mobile home and a manufactured home. See K.S.A.1986 Supp. 8-126(a), (v). Accordingly, the method of perfecting a security interest in a mobile home was governed by the same statute applicable to vehicles, K.S.A.1986 Supp. 8-135(c)(5). This statute provided, in relevant part:

Upon sale and delivery to the purchaser of every vehicle subject to a purchase money security interest as defined in K.S.A. 84-9-107 and amendments thereto, the dealer or secured party may complete a notice of security interest and when so completed, the purchaser shall *842 execute the notice, in a form prescribed by the division, describing the vehicle and showing the name and address of the secured party and of the debtor ... The dealer or secured party may ... mail or deliver the notice of security interest ...

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Bluebook (online)
290 B.R. 838, 50 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 286, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 198, 2003 WL 1191865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-citifinancial-in-re-trible-ksb-2003.