Ranchers & Farmers Livestock Auction Co. of Clovis v. First State Bank of Tulia

531 S.W.2d 167, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 236, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3258
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 24, 1975
Docket8536
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 531 S.W.2d 167 (Ranchers & Farmers Livestock Auction Co. of Clovis v. First State Bank of Tulia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ranchers & Farmers Livestock Auction Co. of Clovis v. First State Bank of Tulia, 531 S.W.2d 167, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 236, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3258 (Tex. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

ROBINSON, Justice.

The First State Bank of Tulia sought to garnish cattle and the proceeds held by the Tulia Livestock Auction, Inc. for J. E. Lit-tlefield. Littlefield and the Ranchers and Farmers Livestock Auction Company of Clovis, New Mexico, intervened, alleging that the Clovis auction company had a purchase money security interest in the proceeds and cattle under the Uniform Commercial Code portion of the Texas Business and Commerce Code. The trial court granted the bank’s motion for summary judgment and denied that of the intervenors. The intervenors appeal. Affirmed.

In addition to affidavits and depositions, the summary judgment proof included a stipulation of facts by the parties. A chronology of the relevant events follows.

NOVEMBER 21, 1973. J. E. Littlefield purchased the cattle from the Ranchers and Farmers Livestock Auction Company of Clovis, New Mexico. Both the president and the general manager of the Clovis auction company testified, without equivocation, in their depositions that sales through the auction were cash sales. The president of the Clovis auction testified that it was the custom in the business for title not to pass to the buyer until checks given in payment for the cattle cleared. Littlefield paid for the cattle by check on a Colorado bank. He had insufficient funds on deposit to cover the check at the time it was given and the check remained unpaid at the time of trial. He received a “Purchase Sheet” containing the language “This contract constitutes a Bill of Sale to the above described livestock, payment for which is hereby acknowledged.” Littlefield shipped the cattle to the Tulia Livestock Auction for resale.

NOVEMBER 23, 1973. A writ of garnishment seeking indebtedness to or effects of J. E. Littlefield was served on the Tulia Livestock Auction. At the time the garnishment was served, the Tulia auction had on hand $30,240.61 from the sale of part of the cattle and 40 head which had not been sold. By mistake, eight head were sold for $1,082.40 after the writ of garnishment was served. The parties on a later day agreed to the sale of the remaining cattle. Those cattle sold for $6,257.48. Subject to the contention by appellant that the Texas garnishment statute is unconstitutional, the stipulations show a valid garnishment for collection of a valid, unpaid judgment in excess of the amounts held by the Tulia auction.

AFTER NOVEMBER 25,1973, AND BEFORE NOVEMBER 29, 1973. After the garnishment, Littlefield told the Clovis auction company that his check to them would not clear, and executed for the Clovis auction company a security agreement and financing statement back-dated to November 21, 1973, and properly describing the cattle in question.

AFTER NOVEMBER 25, 1973, AND NOT MORE THAN 10 DAYS AFTER NOVEMBER 21, 1973. The financing statement (actually executed after November 25, 1973) was filed in the office of the County Clerk of Swisher County, Texas, on November 29, 1973. The exact date on which the statement was filed in the Office of the Secretary of State does not appear, but it is stipulated that the filing was within 10 days of November 21, 1973.

DECEMBER 3, 1973. On November 28, 1973, the Clovis auction company put in the mail, addressed to the Tulia auction company, an instrument entitled “DEMAND OF SELLER FOR GOODS RECEIVED BY BUYER ON CREDIT WHILE INSOLVENT ON NOVEMBER 21, 1973.” By the instrument the Clovis auction company *169 claimed a right to return of the livestock under Section 2.702 of the Texas Uniform Commercial Code. This instrument was received by the Tulia Livestock Auction on December 3, 1973, more than 10 days after the November 21, 1973 date of the delivery of the cattle to Littlefield by the Clovis auction.

The applicable statutory law is contained in Chapter 2, Sales, and Chapter 9, Secured Transactions, of the Uniform Commercial Code, Title I, Business and Commerce Code, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.Stat. 1

The code section 2.511 provides that payment by check is conditional and is defeated as between the parties by dishonor of the check on due presentment. The Uniform Commercial Code Comment under Section 3.802, discussing the effect of conditional payment, states:

3. It is commonly said that a check or other negotiable instrument is “conditional payment.” By this it is normally meant that taking the instrument is a surrender of the right to sue on the obligation until the instrument is due, but if the instrument is not paid on due presentment the right to sue on the obligation is “revived.” Subsection (l)(b) states this result in terms of suspension of the obligation, which is intended to include suspension of the running of the statute of limitations. On dishonor of the instrument the holder is given his option to sue either on the instrument or on the underlying obligation.

Section 2.507 provides that where payment is due on delivery of goods, the buyer’s right as against the seller to retain or dispose of them is conditional upon his making the payment due. The Uniform Commercial Code Comment, with regard to the effect of delivery conditioned upon payment, states:

3. Subsection (2) deals with the effect of a conditional delivery by the seller and in such a situation makes the buyer’s “right as against the seller” conditional upon payment. These words are used as words of limitation to conform with the policy set forth in the bona fide purchase sections of this Article. Should the seller after making such a conditional delivery fail to follow up his rights, the condition is waived. The provision of this Article for a ten day limit within which the seller may reclaim goods delivered on credit to an insolvent buyer is also applicable here.

Section 2.702 provides that the right to reclaim goods delivered on credit to an insolvent buyer is waived unless the seller makes demand within 10 days, except in those cases where misrepresentation of solvency has been made to the particular seller in writing within three months before delivery.

The seller’s right to reclaim under Section 2.702 is not a security interest within the purview of Chapter 9 on secured transactions. In Re Mel Golde Shoes, Inc., 403 F.2d 658 (6th Cir. 1968). Acceptance of a check does not change a cash sale into a credit transaction. In Re Helms Veneer Corporation, 287 F.Supp. 840 (W.D.Va.1968). Construing sections of the Virginia Uniform Commercial Code, identical to the sections of the Texas Uniform Commercial Code, the court in Helms Veneer stated:

We interpret § 2-507 and § 2-511 of the Virginia U.C.C. as giving the seller a right to reclaim his goods from the buyer where a cash transaction has occurred, and a check, taken in payment by the seller, was dishonored. However, the right to reclaim is limited to a ten day period from the delivery of the goods as provided by § 2-507 by virtue of its cross reference to § 2-702. If the right to reclaim has not been exercised within that specified time period, the right is waived. The seller’s remedy is then on *170

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Bluebook (online)
531 S.W.2d 167, 18 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 236, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ranchers-farmers-livestock-auction-co-of-clovis-v-first-state-bank-of-texapp-1975.