Volusia Discount Company v. Alexander KF Motors

88 So. 2d 302
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 25, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 88 So. 2d 302 (Volusia Discount Company v. Alexander KF Motors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Volusia Discount Company v. Alexander KF Motors, 88 So. 2d 302 (Fla. 1956).

Opinion

88 So.2d 302 (1956)

VOLUSIA DISCOUNT COMPANY, Inc., a Corporation, Appellant,
v.
ALEXANDER K-F MOTORS, a Division of Kaiser Fraser Sales Corporation, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Florida, Division A.

May 25, 1956.
Rehearing Denied July 5, 1956.

*303 Raymond, Wilson & Karl, Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Hull, Landis, Graham & French, Daytona Beach, for appellee.

THORNAL, Justice.

Appellant Volusia Discount Company, Inc., which was defendant below, seeks reversal of a summary judgment awarding damages to appellee Alexander K-F Motors, plaintiff below, in a replevin proceeding.

The question presented by the appeal is the correctness of the ruling of the trial judge awarding a summary judgment in favor of the appellee.

The record reveals that one R.A. Heptinstall, Sr., d/b/a T. & H. Motors, was the local dealer in DeLand, Florida, for Henry J automobiles. Alexander K-F Motors was the distributor for such automobiles in Jacksonville. On August 3, 1953, Heptinstall ordered two new cars from the distributor and obtained a complete description of the automobiles by telephone, including model, serial number and motor number. On the same day he executed and delivered to Volusia Discount Company a promissory note and a trust receipt which contained the detailed description of the automobiles. The Discount Company thereupon paid over to Heptinstall an amount approximately equal to the wholesale price of the cars. Two days later Heptinstall went to Jacksonville, obtained the two automobiles and received from the distributor an invoice which, in the automobile trade, evidences transfer of title and which said invoice showed on its face that the cars were delivered to Heptinstall on the basis of "cash on delivery." The dealer gave the distributor his check for the purchase price and took possession of the automobiles, returned them to DeLand and exhibited the invoice to the Discount Company. The distributor deposited the dealer's check on August 8, 1953, and on August 11 the drawee bank returned it because of insufficient funds. The check was redeposited and again returned for the same reason on August 17. On August 27, at the request of the distributor, the dealer issued a new check to replace the first check. The second check was returned because of insufficiency of funds on August 29.

On August 14, 1953, the dealer by telephone ordered a third Henry J and followed the identical procedure with the Discount Company and the distributor. On August 19 the dealer gave his check to the distributor, and received the third car. This check having been deposited on August 21 was likewise returned for insufficiency of funds on August 29. On August 29, the dealer Heptinstall defaulted on the loans that he procured from the Discount Company on the three automobiles and on that date the Discount Company took possession of the automobiles under the trust receipts and later sold them to innocent purchasers for value.

The deposition of the dealer is to the effect that the distributor knew that he (the dealer) was in financial difficulties, that they were extending credit to him for the automobiles by agreeing to withhold the deposit of his checks for several days on each occasion, *304 that they had known for several months that he was in financial trouble and further that when he ordered the cars by telephone, he advised the distributor's representatives that he needed detailed information with reference to the cars in order to "floor plan" them with the Discount Company. The wholesale manager of the distributor, by deposition, denied that the distributor's representative was informed in the telephone conversations that the dealer expected to "floor plan" the cars. He did concede, however, that as far as the distributor was concerned, after delivery of the checks, the dealer could sell the automobiles to a customer and that once the dealer took possession of an automobile and had paid for it, their assumption was that the car "was paid for and gone." He further stated that as far as they were concerned the dealer's check "was legal tender for an automobile."

On September 2, 1953, the distributor instituted replevin proceedings against the dealer and the Discount Company in an effort to repossess the three automobiles. The evidence showed that the cars had been sold and in lieu of a judgment awarding possession to the distributor, the trial judge granted the distributor's motion for the summary judgment against the Discount Company and the dealer for an amount equal to the value of the automobiles. This appeal seeks reversal of this judgment.

The dealer has not appealed but the Discount Company contends that the depositions and affidavits submitted to the trial judge show substantial conflicts on material facts as to whether the distributor actually passed title to the dealer by accepting his check in lieu of cash and issuing the "invoice-bill of sale" showing cash on delivery, and further whether the distributor had waived its rights to reclaim the automobiles as against the Discount Company by issuing the bill of sale, and finally, whether the Discount Company is a good faith purchaser for value.

Appellee seeks to sustain the judgment of the trial court with the contention that there was no genuine issue on the controlling material fact, that title never passed to the dealer because the checks were returned for insufficiency of funds and that, therefore, the floor planning arrangement never became effective.

The correctness of the ruling of the trial court must be tested by the rules applicable to the awarding of summary judgments. If there was a genuine issue on material facts, then the summary judgment should not have been awarded and the cause should have been tried in the usual course.

We dismiss the contention that the appellant was a "good faith purchaser for value" for the reason that these automobiles were obviously not acquired by the appellant in the usual course of retail trade. It is for this reason that appellant cannot receive the benefit of those decisions which protect the customer who purchases a commodity in the course of retail trade even though the merchant or dealer does not have title to the commodity sold.

The problem before us, however, involves a consideration of Chapter 673, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., known as the Uniform Trust Receipts Law, which was originally adopted in Florida as Chapter 26730, Laws of Florida 1951. So far as we are informed, this is the first time we have been called upon to consider this Act. The Act is extremely technical and a discussion of all of its aspects would unnecessarily burden this opinion. The reader is referred to the statute and explanatory references cited herein for an understanding of the scope and effect of the provisions of the statute.

In order to understand the applicability of the statute, it is necessary to consider the nature of the document executed by the dealer and delivered to the Discount Company. It is designated a "trust receipt." The Discount Company is designated "the entruster" and the dealer is called the "trustee." The trust receipt specifically provided that its terms and conditions were to be construed according to the Uniform Trust Receipts Law of Florida, Chapter 673, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. It recites that the trustee "does hereby pledge, assign, transfer and *305 sell to the entruster" the particularly described automobile.

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88 So. 2d 302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/volusia-discount-company-v-alexander-kf-motors-fla-1956.