In re Mitchell, 68366.
| Decision Date | 22 April 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 68366.,68366. |
| Citation | 104 F. Supp. 969 |
| Parties | In re MITCHELL. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
Marvin L. Gardner, Cleveland, Ohio, for trustee Theodore R. Spilka.
Robert Merkle, Cleveland, Ohio, for Michigan Nat. Bank.
Milton M. Lang, Cleveland, Ohio, for bankrupt.
The sole issue presented in this proceeding is — Does the issuance of a certificate of title to a motor vehicle in Ohio by the Clerk of Courts of a county other than the county in which the purchaser resides operate to invalidate the lien of a chattel mortgage noted upon the face of such certificate of title?
The Referee in Bankruptcy held that the lien of the chattel mortgage was void. To test the correctness of that decision the mortgagee, the Michigan National Bank, filed its petition for review in this court.
The facts are not in dispute. Early in the year 1950 P. W. Mitchell became the owner of a house trailer, in which he and his family resided. The trailer was situated in a trailer camp on Lorain Avenue in the Village of Ridgeville in Lorain County, Ohio. The westerly limits of Cuyahoga County, in which Cleveland is located, is less than one mile east of the trailer camp. In December, 1950 the house trailer was destroyed by fire. Mitchell thereafter temporarily resided in the home of the operator of the trailer camp, also located in Lorain County. On January 6, 1951 Mitchell purchased another house trailer from C. N. Littlefield, d. b. a. The Roamer Trailer Mart, located at 13720 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Mitchell made a small down payment on the trailer, executed his promissory note secured by a chattel mortgage on the trailer to C. N. Littlefield for the balance of the purchase price. Mitchell also signed an application for a certificate of title to the house trailer. There was no address of the purchaser on the application at the time it was signed by Mitchell. For a valuable consideration Littlefield transferred the note and mortgage to the Michigan National Bank. The application for the certificate of title was filed with the Clerk of Courts of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, at which time the address of the purchaser appeared on the application as being 13720 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. This is the address of the dealer and it is clearly apparent that the insertion of this address as the residence of the applicant was a mistake, no charge of fraud or misrepresentation being made. The Michigan National Bank presented the chattel mortgage to the Clerk of Courts of Cuyahoga County for notation upon the certificate of title. On March 20, 1951 the Clerk of Courts of Cuyahoga County issued a certificate of title to Mitchell and noted thereon that the Michigan National Bank was the holder of a chattel mortgage for the balance due thereon of $3,090. The certificate of title was delivered to the mortgagee.
On June 29, 1951 Mitchell was adjudicated a bankrupt. The Trustee in Bankruptcy instituted proceedings to sell the house trailer. The Michigan National Bank, asserting its mortgage was the first and best lien upon the trailer, filed a cross-petition praying that it be granted possession of the trailer, or, in the alternative, that upon a sale of the trailer it be paid the proceeds thereof to the extent of the balance due on the note and mortgage.
The Referee held that the mortgage of the Michigan National Bank was void because it was not filed in Lorain County, Ohio, which the Referee found to be the residence of the mortgagor, and ordered the Trustee to sell the house trailer "free and clear of such mortgage lien."
Except for the issuance of a certificate of title in Cuyahoga County upon the erroneous recital of the applicant's address in the application, the transaction was in all respects bona fide and valid.
Concededly, if the filing of the application for certificate of title in Cuyahoga County instead of Lorain County was such a non-compliance with the certificate of title law of Ohio as to render the certificate void, the mortgage of the cross-petitioner also must be held to be invalid.
Whether the certificate of title issued to Mitchell was valid is to be determined by an examination and consideration of the applicable sections of the certificate of title law of Ohio.
By express provision in Section 6290-2a, a house trailer is a motor vehicle. The certificate of title law of the State of Ohio, Secs. 6290 to 6290-20 G.C., became effective in 1938. It provides a uniform system of registering titles to and liens upon all motor vehicles transferred within the state. By virtue of its provisions no person can acquire title to or any interest in a motor vehicle until he shall have had issued to him a certificate of title or have delivered to him a manufacturer's or importer's certificate for the same. Section 6290-4, G.C. This latter section also provides:
"No court in any case at law or in equity shall recognize the right, title, claim, or interest of any person in or to any motor vehicle, hereafter sold or disposed of, or mortgaged or encumbered, unless evidenced by a certificate of title or manufacturer's or importer's certificate duly issued, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter."
Section 6290-5, G.C., requires that an application for a certificate of title "shall be filed with the clerk of courts of the county in which the applicant resides if the applicant be a resident of this state or if not such resident, in the county in which the transaction is consummated".
In the case of the sale of a motor vehicle by a dealer to a purchaser, it is the duty of the dealer to obtain the certificate in the name of the purchaser.
Certificates of title are issued in triplicate, one copy being retained by the clerk, the other copy being forwarded to the registrar of motor vehicles at Columbus, Ohio, and the original certificate being delivered to the purchaser, except where one or more liens are noted upon the certificate, in which case the original certificate must be delivered to the holder of the first lien. Section 6290-6, G.C.
The registrar of motor vehicles is required to file all certificates and other instruments forwarded to him by the clerks of courts and to maintain indexes thereof covering the state at large. Section 6290-7, G.C.
The section of the Act dealing with liens provides in part that mortgages, conveyances intended to operate as mortgages, trust receipts, conditional sales contracts, or other similar instruments noted by the clerk of courts on the face of a certificate of title "shall be valid as against the creditors of the mortgagor...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dymarkowski v. Savage (In re Hadley)
...having their liens noted upon the certificate by the clerk of courts of the county where the certificate was issued.” In re Mitchell,104 F.Supp. 969, 972 (N.D.Ohio 1952).While notation on a vehicle's certificate of title is the exclusive manner in which a security interest is perfected unde......
-
In re Pirsig Farms, Inc.
...544(a) in the case of misfiled liens. Loye v. Denver United States National Bank, 341 F.2d 402 (10th Cir.1965) and In re Mitchell, 104 F.Supp. 969 (N.D.Ohio 1952), aff'd, 202 F.2d 426 (6th Cir.1953), both involved banks which had liens on automobiles. Title and security interests in the aut......
-
In re Swesey
...certificate of title had not been obtained under that law. Counsel for the bank on the motion for rehearing cited the case of In re Mitchell, D.C., 104 F.Supp. 969, a case decided by Judge McNamee of the Eastern Division, Northern District of Ohio, affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the S......
-
Loye v. Denver United States National Bank, 7770.
...In re Berlin, 3 Cir., 147 F.2d 491, 492. Moreover, this interpretation of the Colorado Act is supported by the case of In re Mitchell, 104 F.Supp. 969 (N.D.Ohio 1952), aff'd, 6 Cir., 202 F.2d 426. In that case it was held under a similar Ohio statute that the recording of a chattel mortgage......