Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp. v. Stanley, 5-679
| Decision Date | 23 May 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-679,5-679 |
| Citation | 279 S.W.2d 556,225 Ark. 96 |
| Parties | UNIVERSAL C. I. T. CREDIT CORPORATION, Appellant, v. R. H. STANLEY, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
M. P. Matheney, El Dorado, Wright, Harrison, Lindsey & Upton, Little Rock, for appellant.
Spencer & Spencer, El Dorado, for appellee.
This is a suit filed by the appellee to obtain cancellation, for usury, of a conditional sales contract that was executed after the decision became final in Hare v. General Contract Purchase Corp., 220 Ark. 601, 249 S.W.2d 973. The chancellor canceled the contract and quieted the plaintiff's title to the car that had been sold. It is contended by the appellant that the apparently usurious nature of the agreement was the result of mutual mistake and that even if the contract should be set aside the purchaser is not entitled to keep the automobile.
On July 13, 1953, the appellee Stanley bought a used car from Brown Motor Company for an agreed price of $1,895. By cash and a trade-in Stanley made a down payment which left due a balance of $1,000. On forms furnished by the appellant the seller prepared two instruments relating to the sale. First is the conditional sales contract now in issue, which recites a 'time balance' of $1,260.54, payable in eighteen monthly installments. Second is an invoice which discloses that the time balance was composed of these items:
'[Unpaid balance of purchase price] $1,000.00
'Insurance 18 months w/pkg $129.00
'Finance Charges 131.54 260.54
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$1,260.54'
Within a day or two after the sale the appellant bought the commercial paper from the seller. Stanley made two monthly payments and then filed this suit for cancellation.
It is conceded by the appellant that if the invoice charges of $1,000 for purchase money and $129 for insurance are the only items owed by Stanley, then an interest charge of $131.54 is usurious. The appellant undertook to prove, however, that insurance 'w/pkg' (with package) includes not only a comprehensive automobile policy, for which the appellant paid the recited $129 premium, but also life and accident policies for which the appellant paid an additional $39.32. It is insisted that the latter item should have been designated by Brown as part of the finance charges, leaving a difference attributable to interest that would be within the legal rate.
The trouble with this argument is that there is almost nothing in the conduct of either party to confirm the existence of a mutual mistake. Stanley, on the one side, denies that he agreed...
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Sloan v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.
...sale of goods, wares and merchandise. See cases cited in Hare v. General Contract Purchase Corp., supra. In Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp. v. Stanley, 225 Ark. 96, 279 S.W.2d 556, it was held that a usurious rate of interest was charged on the balance owed on the purchase price of an autom......
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Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp. v. Hudgens
...other hand, when a contract of sale is set aside for usury the purchaser is entitled to keep the property. Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp. v. Stanley, 225 Ark. 96, 279 S.W.2d 556. If this contract was usurious the chancellor was right in awarding the appellees a judgment for the value of th......
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Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp. v. Avery
...appellee should not be permitted to keep the car upon cancellation of the purchase agreement, was rejected in Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp. v. Stanley, Ark., 279 S.W.2d 556, and need not be Affirmed. ...