Pruitt Truck & Implement Co. v. Ferguson

Decision Date13 March 1950
Docket NumberNo. 4-9111,4-9111
Citation216 Ark. 848,227 S.W.2d 944
PartiesPRUITT TRUCK & IMPLEMENT CO. v. FERGUSON et al.
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Robert L. Hyder, West Plains, Missouri, Northcutt & Northcutt, Salem, for appellant.

Robert N. Maxey, Mammoth Springs, P. C. Goodwin, Salem, for appellees.

LEFLAR, Justice.

This is a replevin action to recover a truck to which plaintiff Pruitt claims title. The Circuit Court, sitting without a jury, held for defendants, and plaintiff appeals.

Plaintiff, an auto dealer in West Plains, Mo., there on July 17, 1948, traded the truck to W. L. Craft. In part payment Craft transferred to plaintiff another truck, and gave plaintiff a note and check for the $200 balance. The check could not be cashed and the note was never satisfied, so that the $200 balance still remains unpaid. Plaintiff did not assign to Craft the certificate of title which under Missouri law, Mo.Rev.Stats. 1939, § 8382, Mo.R.S.A., must be assigned by the seller to the buyer of a motor vehicle as a condition to effective sale thereof. Plaintiff Pruitt's testimony was that by their agreement the certificate of title was not to be executed until Craft finished paying for the truck, that he was to retain title till paid in full. Craft brought the truck to Arkansas, apparently secured an Arkansas license for it, and used it here for some months. During this time he incurred bills which remained unpaid, and his creditors brought a Justice of the Peace court attachment proceeding against Craft for the amount of their claims. Defendant Ferguson as Constable attached the truck and later sold it under the attachment; defendant Wadley purchased it at the attachment sale; and defendant Roberts stored it on Wadley's behalf thereafter. Plaintiff Pruitt filed this replevin suit prior to the attachment sale, and defendants had notice of his claim before the sale, though he filed an amended complaint after the sale naming Wadley and Roberts as additional defendants.

The judgment of the Circuit Court in the present action was to the effect that plaintiff had no Missouri title which could prevail over the Arkansas attachment and the sale thereunder.

The question of what title interests in the truck existed by reason of the Missouri trade between plaintiff and Craft is governed by the law of Missouri, the place where the chattel was physically located when the transaction occurred. Restatement, Conflict of Laws, §§ 258, 260; Wray Bros. v. H. A. White Auto Co., 155 Ark. 153, 244 S.W. 18. By the same token, the effect on the title of later transactions occurring when the truck was located in Arkansas is to be determined by Arkansas Law. Forrest v. Benson, 150 Ark. 89, 233 S.W. 916; Motors Securities Co. v. Duck, 198 Ark. 647, 130 S.W.2d 3.

The Arkansas law of Conflict of Laws necessarily recognizes the validity of foreign-created titles in chattels brought into this state, and under our law not even a sale to a bona fide purchaser here will cut off such a prior legal title. Public Parks Amusement Co. v. Embree-McLean Carriage Co., 64 Ark. 29, 40 S.W. 582; Hinton v. Bond Discount Co., 214 Ark. 718, 218 S.W.2d 75. If in the present case Pruitt retained title to the truck under Missouri law his title would not be cut off by the Arkansas attachment sale. The purchaser at the attachment sale would get only whatever interest Craft had. Our principal question therefore is as to what title interests existed in Pruitt and Craft respectively by reason of their Missouri transaction.

Section 8382 of the Missouri Statutes, Mo.R.S.A. as already stated, requires that on sale of a motor vehicle the certificate of title be transferred, with a proper assignment on the back, to the buyer. The statute provides that 'it shall be unlawful' to buy or sell an automobile without transfer of the certificate, and that any such...

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8 cases
  • Campbell's Estate, In re
    • United States
    • Hawaii Supreme Court
    • May 31, 1963
    ...law. Cf., Restatement, Conflicts, § 260; Dobbins v. Martin Buick Co., 216 Ark. 861, 227 S.W.2d 620; Pruitt Truck & Implement Co. v. Ferguson, 216 Ark. 848, 227 S.W.2d 944. Hence, at this stage, the determinative point was the effect of the 1909 dismissal judgment filed in the California How......
  • Mossler Acceptance Co. v. Johnson
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas
    • October 11, 1952
    ...by the defendant took place there, the rights of the respective parties must be determined by Texas law. Pruitt Truck & Implement Co. v. Ferguson, 216 Ark. 848, 227 S.W.2d 944; Dobbins v. Martin Buick Co., 216 Ark. 861, 227 S.W.2d Taking up first the claims of the plaintiff based upon the f......
  • Chetopa State Bank v. Manes
    • United States
    • Arkansas Supreme Court
    • March 16, 1953
    ...the existence of the chattel mortgage.4 Another case in which law loci contractus was applied is that of Pruitt Truck & Implement Co. v. Ferguson, 216 Ark. 848, 227 S.W.2d 944, 945. We there said: 'The Arkansas law of Conflict of Laws necessarily recognizes the validity of foreigh-created t......
  • Lurie v. Blackwell
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • July 18, 2002
    ...state into which the chattel is taken." 16 Am.Jur.2d Conflict of Laws §§ 55, 56 (1998). See, e.g., Pruitt Truck & Implement Co. v. Ferguson, 216 Ark. 848, 227 S.W.2d 944, 945 (1950). [¶ 9] Although we need not expressly adopt the applicable Restatement sections, we note that this approach a......
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