Sechrist-Hall Co. v. Harlingen National Bank

368 S.W.2d 155, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2449
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 15, 1963
DocketNo. 11095
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 368 S.W.2d 155 (Sechrist-Hall Co. v. Harlingen National Bank) 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
Sechrist-Hall Co. v. Harlingen National Bank, 368 S.W.2d 155, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2449 (Tex. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

ARCHER, Chief Justice.

Appellee, Harlingen National Bank, brought this suit on a note and chattel mortgage against L. O. Luper, mortgagor, and Appellant, Sechrist-Hall Company, as purchaser of the three units of a central air-conditioning system covered by the chattel mortgage, and recovered judgment against said parties jointly for conversion in a trial before the court without a jury for the value of said mortgaged items of $1,131.02 (including interest) and for the amount of appellee’s full debt against Luper in the sum of $2,226.46. L. O. Luper has not appealed.

The point on which this appeal is founded is that where appellee bank consented for Luper to sell the mortgaged equipment and collect the proceeds, it waived its right to recover from appellant for conversion and the lower court erred in rendering judgment against appellant. ,

The Court made findings of fact and conclusions of law, to which no exceptions were taken or objections made.

In brief, the Court found that the note and mortgage were executed and filed for record, and that the total amount due the bank aggregated $2,226.46, and the reasonable value of the three items, describing them, was $1,050.00.

The Court found that the company employed Luper on April 30, 1960 to construct an air-conditioning system by oral agreement, and agreed to pay Luper the costs of materials and equipment and for time and labor; that in May Luper.ordered the three items of air-conditioning equipment, describing them; that on June 2, 1960 Luper executed a chattel mortgage to the bank on the three items of equipment, then at the freight depot in Harlingen, and received [156]*156from the bank funds to pay a draft covering the purchase price thereof; that the items were movable personal property and not susceptible of being attached to the realty of the company to become a fixture thereto; that the bank did not know that the three items were to go to the company, and did not learn of this until August 8, 1960, when Luper informed the bank that he had sold the equipment to the company, was installing it and would pay the bank when the job was done; that on June 11, 1960 Luper sold the three items to the company and was paid $1000.00, representing that he needed such to get the equipment out of the freight office, and did not inform the company that he had previously executed a mortgage to the bank.

The Court found that the bank amended its pleadings and elected to rely upon the remedy of conversion.

The Court concluded as a matter of law that the three items described in the mortgage were personalty and remained personalty; that the mortgage was properly recorded in the office of the County Clerk, and that the lien was a first and prior one on the personalty in question; that the company, at the time it bought the items had notice of the bank’s title as evidenced by the mortgage, regardless of whether or not its officers had actual knowledge thereof.

The Court concluded that the purchase of the equipment by the company accompanied by the denial of the company of the bank’s first lien upon the equipment, and the claim of superior ownership by the company in derogation of the rights of the bank constituted conversion of mortgaged property.

Appellant contends that if Luper failed to turn the proceeds of the payment made to him over to the bank that it was not involved in that part of the transaction in any way.

The undisputed testimony in this case is: Mr. Lummus, manager of appellant company testified:

“I can’t give the exact day when I made the contract with Luper or made the agreement, which was an oral agreement, with him to supply us with this equipment. It was delivered to our plant sometime the latter part of May or the first few days in June. I couldn’t say the exact date, because I have no accurate record of the date it was actually delivered on our premises. However, we issued him a check on June 11, 1960, in the amount of a thousand dollars. This was our check No. 2862, and it was to cover the payment of this equipment. * * *
“A. What happened on this, Luper came to our office on the day of June 11th and asked that we make this initial payment to him in order that he might pay the invoice for this equipment. And that was the reason for the thousand dollars being presented at that time, which was within a few days of the date that the equipment had been delivered to our place of business. The subsequent payment was then paid after the equipment was installed and operating.
“Q. Now, I believe you said that after that fire on April 30th, when you made your deal with Luper, that it was just an oral contract; isn’t that right?,
“A. That is correct.
“Q. What did you do? Just talk to him? He made an oral bid for the job or something like that?
“A. Actually, as I recall the conversation, we asked him for his recommendations on the size unit for the proposed space that we were rebuilding as an office and he recommended this particular unit. And then we asked him about the price and he said the equipment [157]*157would run approximately a thousand dollars, plus his cost of installation, and that the cost of installation would vary somewhat with actual job conditions at the time it was ready.
“Q. Yes.
“A. And since we were somewhat vague as to our planning at that time, we told him to go ahead and order the equipment and we would then work out the details of installation at a later date. So, actually, he did the installation basis on pretty much of a time and material proposition. And the cost of the equipment, of course, as we understood to start with, would cost approximately a thousand dollars.”

Mr. Mike Powers, a witness for appellee bank, testified:

“A. Mr. Luper was a customer of our bank and a draft came in for the approximate amount of the note, and he approached us to what we call ‘floor plan’ the unit until it had been sold. We paid the draft on a bank in San Antonio, and he gave us a chattel mortgage and he described the equipment on the chattel mortgage. * * *
“A. It was probably in the freight yard here. He was taking the money to pay for the unit to get it out of the freight office.
“Q. He had to get paid in order to get it released, in other words ? * *
“Q. BY MR. JOHNSON: Now, will you please tell the Court how long you had known Luper, approximately, prior to this time? How many transactions up to that time probably you had been handling of this nature for him?
“A. He began doing business with us in February of ’59 and we handled approximately six or eight similar items for him, the same matter.”

The original note and mortgage to the bank was dated June 2, 1960, the note being for $900.00. The mortgage was recorded June 3, 1960. This note was renewed by the bank on August 8, 1960, regarding which Mr. Powers testified:

“Q. As best as you remember it, sir, how did it come that the original note was renewed?
“A. As I recall, he explained to me that he had sold the interest to Sechrist-Hall and was in the process of installing them, and the job hadn’t been completed.

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Bluebook (online)
368 S.W.2d 155, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sechrist-hall-co-v-harlingen-national-bank-texapp-1963.