Raley v. Milk Producers, Inc.

568 P.2d 246, 90 N.M. 720
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 26, 1977
DocketNo. 2796
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 568 P.2d 246 (Raley v. Milk Producers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Raley v. Milk Producers, Inc., 568 P.2d 246, 90 N.M. 720 (N.M. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

OPINION

LOPEZ, Judge.

This appeal arose out of a complaint filed in the District Court of Dona Ana County. The complaint presented a cause of action for conversion of milk and proceeds in the amount of $16,000.00. Summary judgment was requested by both parties and the court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant; accordingly, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint. The plaintiff appeals and we affirm.

The plaintiff presents two points: (1) the uncontradicted evidence showed that the defendant converted money proceeds from the sale of milk in which the plaintiff had a security interest; (2) if the defendant could use the defenses of waiver or estoppel, the defenses would raise genuine issues of fact which would preclude summary judgment. The defendant raises three defenses: (1) the authorization to sell the collateral extinguished any security interest in the proceeds; (2) there was no binding assignment of the milk proceeds; and (3) once the plaintiff exercised her right of repossession under the conditional sales contract the underlying indebtedness was extinguished.

We will discuss the defendant’s points seriatim. All statutory references are to the Uniform Commercial Code, Chapter 50A, N.M.S.A.1953 (Repl. Vol. 8, pt. 1,1962).

Three entities are involved: the plaintiff (the secured party), J. L. and Grace Nicholas (the debtors), and the defendant (the selling agent). Only the secured party and the selling agent are parties to this action.

On September 1, 1970, the secured party and the debtors executed a conditional sales contract for the sale of cattle and dairy equipment at a price of $59,180.00 plus nine percent interest. (This will be referred to as the security agreement). The security agreement provided, among other things, that one installment of $1,000.00 was payable on September 20, 1970, and another such installment was payable on October 20, 1970. Monthly installment payments of $2,000.00 were to commence on November 20, 1970 and continue until the debt was paid.

The security agreement also provided that the secured party would have a lien against all milk produced from the cows. The debtors assigned all of their right, title and interest in such milk to the secured party and agreed to sell all milk produced by the cows through the defendant. The defendant is á marketing or selling agent for various milk producers, retaining only a percentage of the proceeds for services rendered as a selling agent. The security agreement authorized the selling agent to pay the secured party, from the proceeds of the milk sold by the agent, $1,000.00 on September 20, 1970, $1,000.00, on October 20, 1970, and $2,000.00 on the 20th of each month thereafter until the. $59,180.00 plus interest was paid. Although the security agreement executed by the secured party and the debtors mentioned the selling agent, the agent was not a party to this contract.

The secured party filed a financing statement in Valencia County where the debtors had their operations.

On September 3,1970, the secured party’s attorney sent a copy of the security agreement to the selling agent. Included was a request that the agent honor the terms of the security agreement. On October 27th of that year a follow-up letter was written by the attorney indicating that no response had been made by the selling agent. This letter did request a “consignment” form which is, presumably, a request for an assignment form.

On October 2, 1970, the selling agent signed an agreement with the debtors which provided, in essence, that the debtors would deliver all milk production to the selling agent who would handle the marketing and selling of the milk.

The selling agent signed a written assignment on October 23, 1970, which provided that effective November 15, 1970, the selling agent was authorized to deduct from the milk proceeds the sum of $1,000.00 per month for payment to the secured party. On record, no reason is given to explain why the amount authorized to be deducted from the debtors’ proceeds was only $1,000.00 when the security agreement called for a payment of $2,000.00. Nevertheless the selling agent consented to and agreed to honor the written assignment.

The selling agent later notified the secured party that the authorization to pay contained in the security agreement was not acceptable as an assignment of proceeds. On November 19, 1970, Mrs. Raley, the secured party, received a direct response from the selling agent. This letter acknowledged the receipt of the September 3rd letter from the secured party’s attorney along with a copy of the security agreement. Cited was 7 C.F.R. § 1138.80 (1970), which regulates the sale of milk in the Rio Grande Valley marketing area. This federal regulation, in effect at the time, permitted a selling agent (handler) to deduct from a producer’s check only “proper deductions authorized in writing by such producer” (Emphasis added). The selling agent indicated a willingness to accept an assignment of milk proceeds payable to its members, but the agent would acknowledge and accept only those assignments made on the forms provided by the agent. The agent stated that the security agreement was not acceptable and specifically denied being bound by it.

Finally, the letter acknowledged receipt of an assignment for $1,000.00 per month effective November 15, 1970. Although it recognized that the security agreement called for different terms, the selling agent reiterated its policy that it could not guarantee payment of any assignment and disputes had to be settled between assignor and assignee. Enclosed were blank forms and a suggestion that the secured party, Mrs. Raley, reach an agreement with the debtors and memorialize such an agreement on forms acceptable to the agent.

The secured party never complied with the selling agent’s request but the selling agent gave and the secured party accepted $1,000.00 for about twelve months, these payments being $1,000.00 less than the sum called for in the security agreement.

Thé debtors never made the first two payments called for in the security agreement, and the only evidence of payments which were made indicate that the money came from the selling agent. After twelve months the secured party exercised her rights under the security agreement (the conditional sales contract) and repossessed the cows from the debtors. The secured party did not sue for a deficiency nor did she take any action against the debtors. Later, the secured party filed this suit against the selling agent.

Status of a Security Interest with Authorization to Sell-Waiver

The secured party argues that the evidence is clear and uncontroverted that the selling agent converted cash proceeds from the sale of milk. The secured party argues that when the marketing agent paid only $1,000.00 and did not pay the $2,000.00 as was stated in the security agreement, the selling agent converted the deficiency of $1,000.00. Although it is unclear from the complaint, it appears that the secured party asserts that the selling agent is also liable for the other payments which the debtors missed.

The secured party relies upon the security agreement, financing statement, and §§ 50A-9-306, 307.

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Bluebook (online)
568 P.2d 246, 90 N.M. 720, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raley-v-milk-producers-inc-nmctapp-1977.