UNIVERSAL CIT CRED. CORP. v. Thursbay Chevrolet Co.

136 So. 2d 15
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 12, 1961
DocketC-353
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 136 So. 2d 15 (UNIVERSAL CIT CRED. CORP. v. Thursbay Chevrolet Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
UNIVERSAL CIT CRED. CORP. v. Thursbay Chevrolet Co., 136 So. 2d 15 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

136 So.2d 15 (1961)

UNIVERSAL C.I.T. CREDIT CORPORATION, a foreign corporation, Appellant,
v.
THURSBAY CHEVROLET COMPANY, Inc., W.E. Thursbay, Ernestine Thursbay, John H. Cannington, Nellie Cannington and David C. Gaskin, Appellees.

No. C-353.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. First District.

December 12, 1961.
Rehearing Denied January 10, 1962.

*16 Earl R. Duncan, Panama City, and Holsberry & Emmanuel, Pensacola, for appellant.

Silas R. Stone, Port St. Joe, Isler, Welch & Jones, Panama City, and David C. Gaskin, Wewahitchka, for appellees.

RAWLS, Judge.

Appellant, Universal C.I.T., which was plaintiff in the trial Court, seeks reversal of a final decree rendered by the Chancellor in favor of appellee defendants.

This cause is one of a series involving the plaintiff, Universal C.I.T. with the defendants, Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc., W.E. Thursbay and Ernestine M. Thursbay, resulting from the failure of the business Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc. Among numerous other actions were a mortgage foreclosure on the equipment and other assets of the defendant, an accounting action in which Universal C.I.T. recovered a judgment against Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc., W.E. Thursbay and Ernestine Thursbay in the sum of $52,417.16, and a criminal prosecution against W.E. Thursbay for theft of two automobiles, in which he was found not guilty. The case at bar involves the right of Universal C.I.T. to be subrogated to the lien of a mortgage which had covered the home of defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Cannington, father-in-law and mother-in-law of W.E. Thursbay.

On January 2, 1957, W.E. Thursbay borrowed $10,000 from Walker Liddon. The note was executed by the Thursbays and the Canningtons, endorsed by David C. Gaskin and secured by a mortgage on the Cannington's home, which was owned by tenancy in the entirety. The note was also secured by a mortgage on a lot in Port St. Joe owned by the Thursbays. The proceeds of the loan were used by W.E. Thursbay as part of the purchase price of the business, Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc. of which W.E. Thursbay was president and manager; his wife, Ernestine Thursbay, was secretary; and J.H. Cannington, Mrs. Thursbay's father, was vice-president.

On January 2, 1958, the due date of the mortgage, Thursbay retired same by paying Liddon $9,800 cash and a $1,000 check from David Gaskin. At the same time the Thursbays conveyed to Liddon title to the *17 lot in Port St. Joe which was also covered by the mortgage, and Liddon conveyed the same to David Gaskin for the $1,000 check. David Gaskin recorded the deed several months later and subsequently sold this lot to a third party, Jesse Stone.

On February 6, 1957, Universal C.I.T., as entruster, and Thursbay Chevrolet Company, as trustee, entered into a trust receipts financing agreement, commonly known as "floor planning." A statement of intention to engage in trust receipt financing was signed by the parties and recorded with the Secretary of State as required by F.S. Section 673.13, F.S.A. Thereafter Universal C.I.T. financed the purchase of new cars for the trustee company.

During the year of 1957, the Company began experiencing financial difficulties and in mid-December of that year Thursbay confided to J.T. Vines, a former C.I.T. employee, that he needed money to pay off a loan on the home of his father-in-law. He asked Vines what he thought C.I.T. would do if he (Thursbay) sold cars "out of trust." Vines communicated Thursbay's intentions to Owsley, C.I.T.'s manager, who caused a commodity check to be made two or three days before Christmas. There were no sales "out of trust" at this time. On January 2, 1958, Owsley found that fourteen cars had been sold "out of trust" and on January 6, 1958, plaintiff demanded an accounting.

The evidence indicates the proceeds from the sales were put in the Company safe along with other indeterminate funds belonging to the Company from sales of parts, services, etc., and indeterminate funds belonging to Thursbay individually derived from sale of his home, salary, and funds from a savings account.

The business was attached by the plaintiff, and several days thereafter Thursbay and a deputy sheriff, with the permission of all concerned, went into the Company office to get a bicycle belonging to Thursbay's son. Upon entering the premises they found the safe in a condition which indicated it had been burglarized and the contents pilfered.

Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Cannington received any benefit from the $10,000 loan but had signed the note and mortgage to help their daughter and son-in-law. The Canningtons did not pay any part of the funds used to satisfy the mortgage. Mr. Cannington, a heavy equipment operator working for the City of Panama City, was a nominal stockholder of Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc. but had no actual knowledge of the affairs of the corporation.

In his final decree the Chancellor found that the funds in the Company safe were hopelessly mixed and commingled; that plaintiff failed to trace any of its funds into the retirement of the mortgage; that plaintiff made no effort to disprove that the safe had been burglarized; that although plaintiff had for some time known of the unstable financial condition of the Company and had been advised Thursbay was contemplating selling vehicles "out of trust," it failed to act with due diligence to prevent the "out of trust" sales; that plaintiff cannot claim subrogation against the Port St. Joe lot because it was not conveyed to Gaskin without consideration and there was no evidence whatsoever that any of plaintiff's funds had been used in connection with the transfer; that the instant case was only one of a series of actions (with the same Judge presiding over all) involving the plaintiff and the Thursbay Chevrolet Company, Inc. and that in a separate accounting action brought by the plaintiff against the defendants, the plaintiffs recovered a judgment in the sum of $52,417.16 which in addition to a capital loan covered the identical items named in the instant suit except for the plaintiff's claimed right of subrogation. The record contains adequate evidence to sustain the Chancellor's findings.

Additional litigation involving the "out of trust" sales of the fourteen cars was brought by Universal C.I.T. against the purchasers on the theory that they were *18 not bona fide purchasers as contemplated by the Uniform Trust Receipts Act.[1] One case, Universal C.I.T. v. Beland, 112 So.2d 78 (Fla.App. 1959), involving three of the automobiles, was appealed from a judgment in favor of the purchasers from the Court of Record, Escambia County, to this Court, which affirmed the lower Court. Another action involving two of the fourteen automobiles was instituted by Universal C.I.T. against the purchaser, C.V. Blue, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and the Court's decision in that cause was in favor of the purchaser. Universal C.I.T. attempted to sue one Gilbert A. Bean for another two of the fourteen automobiles, but declined to pursue this purchaser since he had moved out of the state. It was successful in recovering two of the fourteen automobiles. Therefore, the record clearly shows that Universal C.I.T. aggressively pursued the "res" that is the subject of the instant cause and appellee urges that this constituted an election of remedies to the prejudice of Universal C.I.T. in this cause. Appellee's position, that Universal C.I.T. cannot pursue the "res" and concurrently claim the proceeds of the "res" i.e.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 So. 2d 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/universal-cit-cred-corp-v-thursbay-chevrolet-co-fladistctapp-1961.