Heltzel v. Mecham Pontiac
| Decision Date | 19 December 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. CV,CV |
| Citation | 152 Ariz. 58,730 P.2d 235 |
| Parties | Laurie Ann HELTZEL, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MECHAM PONTIAC, an Arizona corporation, Evan Mecham and Jane Doe Mecham, his wife, Defendants-Appellants. 86-0235-PR. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
Mark D. Winemiller, Phoenix, for plaintiff-appellee.
Morris, Walker & Mecham, P.C. by M. Kent Mecham and Jeffrey A. Murphy, Phoenix, for defendants-appellants.
This is a petition for review filed by Laurie Ann Heltzel from an opinion of the court of appeals which reversed the judgment of the trial court. Laurie Ann Heltzel v. Mecham Pontiac, 152 Ariz. 49, 730 P.2d 226 (Ct.App.1986) (GRANT, J., dissenting). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const. art. 6, § 5(3), A.R.S. § 12-120.24 and Rule 23, Ariz.R.Civ.App.P., 17A A.R.S. We granted the petition for review as to only one issue and that is whether, under the facts of this case, the seller is estopped from denying the existence of a contract for the sale of an automobile.
On December 28, 1982, Laurie Ann Heltzel went to Mecham Pontiac, located in Glendale, Arizona, to look for a new car. Larry Noojin, a salesman employed by Mecham Pontiac, worked with Heltzel. After Heltzel selected a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, a purchase order was filled out and signed by Heltzel. Mecham Pontiac also signed the purchase order. There is no dispute that each party accepted the purchase order. The purchase order credited Heltzel with $1,450 for her 1973 Volkswagon Beetle, which had an odometer reading of 138,119 miles, and with $300.00 for her check given as a cash down payment. The total purchase price of the Trans Am was $13,543.64. The purchase order provided in pertinent part:
THIS ORDER IS NOT BINDING UNTIL ACCEPTED BY DEALER, AND IF A TIME SALE, (1) PURCHASER'S CREDIT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY A FINANCING INSTITUTION AND IT AGREES TO PURCHASE A RETAIL INSTALLMENT CONTRACT BASED ON THIS ORDER, (2) APPROPRIATE FINANCE CHARGE DISCLOSURES ARE MADE, AND (3) A SECURITY AGREEMENT EXECUTED. UNTIL A TIME SALE ORDER BECOMES BINDING PURCHASER MAY CANCEL IT AND RECOVER ANY DEPOSIT MADE.
Heltzel also executed a credit application for the purchase of the Trans Am. Anticipating that Heltzel's line of credit would be insufficient and thus not qualify her for financing, her brother-in-law, James Maher, agreed to co-sign for Heltzel's loan. Maher submitted his credit application to Mecham Pontiac on December 29, 1982. After Maher had returned home from Mecham Pontiac, he received a telephone call from Noojin who informed him that "everything went through," meaning that the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) had approved the loan over the telephone. Noojin also told Maher that he and Heltzel should return to Mecham Pontiac to complete the remaining paperwork.
On December 31, 1982, Heltzel and Maher returned to Mecham Pontiac to complete the paperwork, which included signing over to Mecham Pontiac the title to Heltzel's 1973 Volkswagon, the trade-in vehicle. Heltzel was anxious to complete the transaction because the special financing interest rate offered by GMAC of 10.9% was to expire at the end of the year, and she wanted to begin the new year with a new car. Heltzel testified at trial that she would not have left her Volkswagon with Mecham Pontiac and signed over the title to the vehicle had she not been assured by Noojin and Mecham Pontiac that the loan had been approved by GMAC.
While waiting for the additional papers to be prepared, Heltzel and Maher spoke with Evan Mecham, the president and primary stockholder of Mecham Pontiac. Mecham congratulated her on her purchase of the Trans Am and told her that he had spoken by telephone with GMAC and had been informed that the loan was approved. A retail instalment sale contract was prepared, which incorporated the terms of the purchase order, and was executed by Heltzel and Maher with their signatures; in between the spaces providing "Other owner signs here" and "Creditor Signs" is typed "MECHAM-AMC-RENAULT-SUBARU." Heltzel also was told that an additional down payment of $500.00 was needed. Heltzel did this by executing two personal checks in the amount of $250.00 each, secured by two promissory notes also in the amount of $250.00 each. After all of the foregoing, Heltzel was given the keys to the Trans Am, which she drove home.
On January 3, 1983, Mecham Pontiac sold the trade-in Volkswagon to an automobile wholesaler for $375.00. That same day, Mecham Pontiac learned that Heltzel's credit application to GMAC had been turned down.
On January 6, 1983, Mecham Pontiac contacted Heltzel and told her that the financing had not been approved and demanded return of the Trans Am if she could not obtain other financing. The GMAC financing interest rate of 10.9%, unfortunately, no longer was available.
The next day, Mecham Pontiac repossessed the Trans Am by removing it from the parking lot of the building where Heltzel worked. Heltzel rented a vehicle and later purchased a replacement vehicle. Mecham Pontiac did not offer to return the cash down payment until January 21, 1983, after a telephone call was placed to the attorneys for Mecham Pontiac by an attorney Heltzel initially contacted to represent her interests. Heltzel testified, however, at trial that this offer was not communicated to her by her attorney.
Shortly thereafter, Heltzel retained her present attorney Lionel C. Estrada. Estrada wrote a demand letter to Mecham Pontiac on January 26, 1983. Estrada wrote a second letter on February 7, 1983, which stated that Heltzel demanded the following damages:
1. The value of her vehicle (what you sold it for);
2. Return of down payment;
3. Payment for rental incurred by my client;
4. Payment for her inconvenience and mental distress; and
5. Reasonable attorneys' fees.
The response received by Heltzel was a hand-written letter from Evan Mecham offering to cancel the transaction. Enclosed in the letter was a check from Mecham Pontiac to Heltzel in the amount of $675.00 (representing her initial cash down payment of $300.00 plus the $375.00 that the automobile wholesaler paid Mecham Pontiac for the trade-in Volkswagon), Heltzel's two personal checks to Mecham Pontiac each in the amount of $250.00 (for the additional down payment of $500.00), and the two promissory notes executed to secure the personal...
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