C. I. T. Corp. v. K. & S. Finance Co., 15086.

• Citation: 142 P.2d 1005,111 Colo. 378
• Decision Date: 27 September 1943
• Docket Number: 15086.
• Parties: C. I. T. CORPORATION v. K. & S. FINANCE CO.
• Court: Supreme Court of Colorado

142 P.2d 1005

111 Colo. 378

C. I. T. CORPORATION v. K. & S. FINANCE CO.

No. 15086.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

September 27, 1943

Error to District Court, City and County of Denver; George F Dunklee, Judge.

Replevin by the C. I. T. Corporation against the K. & S. Finance Company. To review a judgment for defendant, plaintiff brings error.

Affirmed.

Jackson M. Seawell, of Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Max M Glaston, of Denver, for defendant in error.

BURKE Justice.

These parties occupy the same relative position here as in the trial court and are hereinafter referred to as here. Plaintiff is a Maryland and defendant a Colorado corporation. One Edward G. Bueter is designated as Bueter, and a certain automobile, once his chattel, is referred to as the Dodge suggestive of the conduct of Bueter as well as the name of the manufacturer. The question here is whether plaintiff or defendant, as Bueter's creditor, has the prior lien on the Dodge. Defendant had possession of it in Denver. Plaintiff secured it on replevin. Defendant posted a re-delivery bond, recovered, and has long since disposed of it. It is stipulated that if plaintiff has judgment herein it shall be for $390, plus interest and costs. Bueter is out of the picture. The record is silent as to the time, place and manner of his exit, but contains his deposit taken in the peace and security of a sojourn in Canon City.

March 20, 1940, at Greenville, South Carolina, Bueter bought the Dodge of a motor company, trading in another car and giving Exhibits C and D for the unpaid balance. These were promptly transferred to plaintiff; whereupon Bueter unmindful of the obligation thereon, as promptly departed that commonwealth via the Dodge. Sixty days later, in the city of Denver, he borrowed certain moneys of defendant and executed Exhibits 1 and 2 as evidence of and security for the loan. C and 1 are promissory notes. 2 is a chattel mortgage on the Dodge securing 1, and plaintiff contends that D is a chattel mortgage thereon securing C, hence plaintiff here stands on C and D and defendant on 1 and 2. The trial court, construing C and D together, held them to constitute a chattel mortgage but, nevertheless, gave judgment for defendant; upon what theory or by what error does not appear. This he did in paragraph No. 2 of his findings and to that paragraph the record discloses neither objection nor exception. Trial was to the court and judgment was for defendant. To review that judgment plaintiff prosecutes this writ. Its three specifications amount simply to this: Exhibit D must be construed according to the law of South Carolina. So construed it is, as found by the trial court, a chattel mortgage, and if so is a lien on the Dodge prior to that of Exhibit 2.

All the evidence is documentary and no material fact is in dispute. If D is a mortgage it secures C and the lien thereof is prior to that of 2, hence plaintiff has the superior right and the judgment must be reversed. If defendant can here question the court's finding that D is a mortgage, notwithstanding its failure to object and except thereto, and we hold, as here maintained, that it is a mere conditional sales contract, then defendant has the superior right and the judgment must be affirmed.

1. Defendant is not bound by the court's finding as to Exhibit D but may question it here. Rule 52(b) Colo. Rules Civil Procedure.

2. It is conceded that Exhibit D must be construed according to the laws of South Carolina. Whatever it be under those laws it is in fact a conditional sales...