Tallulah Finance Co. v. Matthews

116 So. 2d 121, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1052
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 25, 1959
DocketNo. 9056
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 116 So. 2d 121 (Tallulah Finance Co. v. Matthews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tallulah Finance Co. v. Matthews, 116 So. 2d 121, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1052 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

GLADNEY, Judge.

This appeal presents a question of preference as to the proceeds of a sale under execution of the defendant’s automobile. The conflict between creditors arose after Tal-lulah Finance Company, a judgment creditor of the defendant, on October 13, 1958, seized the automobile under a writ of fi. fa. and provoked its sale on November 8, 1958. On November 7, 1958, Motors Securities Company, Inc. filed a petition of intervention and third opposition and claimed priority to the proceeds of the sale by reason of its ownership of chattel mortgage notes dated March 8, 1957, and October 6, 1958, which said notes were executed by the defendant and affected the automobile under seizure. Following a hearing had with complete stipulation of facts, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff, recognizing its privilege resulting from the seizure of the chattel to be superior to any liens or privileges claimed by intervenor and third opponent. Intervenor and third opponent has appealed.

The agreed facts are:

“Plaintiff, Tallulah Finance Company, filed suit against the defendant, Willie Matthews, for the unpaid purchase price on a television set. The plaintiff secured judgment against the defendant on September 19, 1958, and had the television set seized and sold at sheriff’s sale. The television set did not bring an amount sufficient to pay off the balance. Plaintiff, in order to satisfy the deficiency after the sale of the television set, caused a 1954 Ford belonging to the defendant to be seized by the sheriff and advertised for sale. The sheriff seized the automobile belonging to the defendant, Willie Matthews, on October 13, 1958. The defendant had purchased the automobile and financed it through General Motors Acceptance Corporation on March 8, 1957, and secured the loan by a chattel mortgage duly recorded and shown on the title certificate. On October 6, 1958, defendant, Willie Matthews, appeared at the office of Motors Securities Company, Inc., at Monroe, Louisiana, and refinanced the loan that General Motors Acceptance Corporation had on the automobile and no extra money was advanced to defendant Matthews. It is admitted that the chattel mortgage held on the automobile by General Motors Acceptance-Corporation was further secured by a vendor’s lien on the automobile. It is agreed that when Motors Securities Company, Inc. refinanced the automobile that there was due and owing General Motors Acceptance Corporation Three Hundred Ninety-Five and 12/100 ($395.12) Dollars. Motors Securities Company, Inc. purchased the note that was signed by Willie Matthews and secured by chattel mortgage and vendor’s lien on the automobile involved in this suit and surrendered the title certificate to the Motor Vehicle Commissioner in order to have the mortgage noted on the certificate and changed from General Motors Acceptance Corporation to Motors Securities Company, Inc. Motors Securities Company, Inc., filed with the Department of Revenue of the State of Louisiana at its Monroe, Louisiana, office on October 9, 1958, its ap[123]*123plication for a new title certificate on this automobile showing its mortgage on the property and surrendered to the Department of Revenue the usual pink slip and title ■certificate that it had obtained from General Motors Acceptance Corporation, together with the original of the act of chattel mortgage executed by the defendant to Motors Securities Company, Inc. The application for the issuance of a new title certificate and the original of the act of chattel mortgage were posted in the United States mail on October 9, 1958, at Monroe, Louisiana, by the local manager of the Department of Revenue to the Department of Revenue at Baton Rouge, in order that the new •title certificate might be issued, and said •new title certificate was issued October 17, 1958. The Sheriff of Madison Parish obtained a mortgage certificate from the Department of Revenue dated October 17, 1958, in preparation to sell the said automobile under the above seizure and this certificate showed a chattel mortgage to General Motors Acceptance Corporation for ■One Thousand One Hundred Seventy-Nine •and 36/100 ($1,179.36) Dollars. Motors Securities Company, Inc. filed a petition of intervention and third opposition praying that the sheriff retain all proceeds from the sale of the said Ford automobile until this honorable court could consider the merits of its petition. The said automobile after being duly advertised was sold on November 8, 1958, to Motors Securities Company, Inc., for Four Hundred One and NO/100 ($401.-00) Dollars. This amount is being retained in the hands of the sheriff until the manner of its distribution should be determined by this Honorable Court. On November 14, 1958, the defendant was adjudged a bankrupt in the United States District Court, Western District of Louisiana, Number 8480 in Bankruptcy. The amount due the plaintiff by the defendant on the said judgment is Three Hundred Seventy-Two and 43/100 ($372.43) Dollars.”

In addition to the facts as above related, the record clearly reveals the G. M. A. C. mortgage was of record until the new certificate of title was issued to defendant on October 17, 1958, but was not on the new title certificate issued prior to the sale of the automobile.

Plaintiff’s contention is that it is entitled to the proceeds of the sale forasmuch as intervenor’s chattel mortgage dated October 6, 1958, was not of record at the time of the seizure of the automobile under the writ of fi. fa., and further, subrogation is not applicable in this case. Motors Securities Company, Inc., claims: first, a lien and privilege prior in rank to plaintiff’s by virtue of its chattel mortgage of October 6, 1958; second, that intervenor and third opponent is subrogated to the same rights and privileges as were held by G. M. A. C. when intervenor and third opponent purchased the G. M. A. C. chattel mortgage note; and third, that plaintiff is not a third person within the intendment of the chattel mortgage law.

Plaintiff, a judgment creditor, was by the mere act of the seizure under the writ of fi. fa. invested with a privilege on the chattel seized, which became effective on October 13, 1958. Code of Practice, Art. 722. The lien or privilege resulting from the execution by Willie Matthews on October 6, 1958, of an act of chattel mortgage, under the express provisions of LSA-R.S. 32:710 became effective against third persons from the date of notation of the lien or privilege on the face of the certificate of title of such vehicle, which date in this instance was October 17, 1958.

It is clear, therefore, that plaintiff’s privilege resulting from the seizure on October 13th must be held superior in rank to intervenor’s chattel mortgage lien and privilege which was not noted on the certificate of title until October 17, 1958.

The Certificate of Title Act (LSA-R.S. 32:701 et seq.) provides, save some exceptions not material hereto, the exclusive method of executing, recording and canceling chattel mortgages. The mode of cancellation or final discharge of a recorded [124]*124chattel mortgage is prescribed in LSA-R.S. 32:708, subd. B as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
116 So. 2d 121, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tallulah-finance-co-v-matthews-lactapp-1959.