Zuke v. Mercantile Trust Company National Association

• Decision Date: 15 December 1967
• Docket Number: No. 18841.,18841.
• Citation: 385 F.2d 775
• Parties: Ben ZUKE, Trustee in Bankruptcy of Imogene Jackson, Bankrupt, Appellant, v. MERCANTILE TRUST COMPANY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

385 F.2d 775 (1967)

Ben ZUKE, Trustee in Bankruptcy of Imogene Jackson, Bankrupt, Appellant, v. MERCANTILE TRUST COMPANY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Appellee.

No. 18841.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

November 20, 1967.

Rehearing Denied December 15, 1967.

Guilfoil, Caruthers, Symington, Montrey & Petzall, Darold E. Crotzer, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., of amicus curiae General Bancshares in support of appellee Mercantile Trust Co. Natonal Assn.

Welliver, Porter & Cleaveland, Warren Welliver, Columbia, Mo., of amicus curiae Missouri Bankers Assn. in support of appellee.

Wm. W. Quigg, Jefferson City, Mo., of amicus curiae Missouri Automobile Dealers Assn. in support of appellee.

Curtis L. Mann, of Love & Mann and David B. Lacks, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

W. Stanley Walch, of Thompson, Mitchell, Douglas & Neill, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee, J. Peter Schmitz of the same firm was on the brief.

Before VAN OOSTERHOUT, MEHAFFY AND HEANEY, Circuit Judges.

MEHAFFY, Circuit Judge.

The sole question presented by this appeal is the correctness of the District Court's decision that a lienholder validly perfected a lien on a motor vehicle under Missouri statutes by paying the required fee and delivering to the Missouri Director of Revenue an executed lien perfection copy of a Missouri multipurpose form No. MMV-1 entitled "Application for Missouri Title and/or License" as furnished and required by the Missouri Director of Revenue.

The legal question is one of first impression and obviously of far-reaching effect. The facts are stipulated. Appellant is trustee in bankruptcy of the estate of the purchaser-owner of the automobile, and appellee Mercantile is the lienholder, having obtained by transfer the purchase note and mortgage from the automobile dealer after consummation of the sale to the owner.

Approximately ten months after the owner purchased the automobile she filed a petition in bankruptcy and her trustee took possession of the automobile and refused to surrender it to Mercantile upon demand. Mercantile then filed a petition for reclamation. The trustee answered and also petitioned for authority to sell the automobile free and clear of liens. Upon a hearing, the referee held, in a sixteen-page typewritten opinion, that the lien was not validly perfected since only the lien perfection copy of the Application for Missouri Title and/or License, form No. MMV-1, had been delivered to the Director of Revenue. He interpreted the law as requiring the filing of all four copies of form No. MMV-1, hereinafter more fully described, in order to constitute an application for motor vehicle title, and as a prerequisite for lien perfection. Upon review the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri reversed the referee and the published memorandum opinion of The Honorable John K. Regan is reported sub nom. In Re Jackson at 268 F.Supp. 434 (E.D.Mo.1967), wherein he held that the filing with the Director of a single copy disclosing the lien met the requirements for application of ownership although other copies, which would disclose payment of sales or use tax and license registration fee, were not delivered to the Director by the purchaser and the automobile was never registered for licensing purposes. We affirm the District Court.

On July 7, 1967, the bankrupt, a resident of Missouri, purchased a new automobile from a Missouri dealer, trading in a used automobile and making a substantial cash down payment. At the time of this purchase the bankrupt executed a negotiable promissory note secured by a chattel mortgage security agreement which was in due course of business and for value transferred, sold and delivered to Mercantile. Upon buying the automobile, purchaser executed the Missouri Director of Revenue's form No. MMV-1 in quadruplicate, designated as "Application for Missouri Title and/or License." The blue copy of the form, called the lien perfection copy, was forwarded by Mercantile to the office of the Supervisor of Motor Vehicle Registration, Department of Revenue of the State of Missouri. Accompanying this form was the prescribed fee. The Missouri Revenue Department received the lien perfection copy the following day, validated it and placed it in a suspense file to be held there until receipt of the other copies which were required to be furnished by the purchaser. Under Missouri statutes a purchaser cannot obtain a certificate of title or registration for licensing of an automobile until the purchaser files an identical copy of form No. MMV-1, indicating payment of the Missouri sales or use tax and license registration fee. At the time of bankruptcy, neither the purchaser nor anyone for her had filed the other form copies and hence no certificate of title was ever issued to her. The State of Missouri has for many years required the purchaser of an automobile to make payment of the sales or use tax, rather than the dealer.

In 1963 the Missouri General Assembly passed its version of the Uniform Commercial Code but made the effective date July 1, 1965. As is well known, the Uniform Commercial Code is comprehensive and the object of delaying its effective date was to permit study thereof so that its impact and effect could be clearly understood and to permit time for the adoption of any other necessary legislation with a simultaneous effective date. The Code as adopted in Missouri repealed the prior existing Missouri statutes relating to perfection of liens on motor vehicles as well as other chattels. As a consequence, the Missouri Legislature enacted a separate act to take effect simultaneously with the Code, known as the Motor Vehicle Lien Act, and sometimes referred to here as the Lien Perfection Act. V.A.M.S. §§ 301.600-301.670. The Code did not repeal or otherwise affect the registration of motor vehicles for licenses and the requirement of payment of the sales or use tax by the purchaser. Admittedly, Missouri statutes authorized the Director of Revenue to prepare forms to be executed by the owner furnishing required information and indicating compliance with these statutes.

It is unnecessary and would be repetitious for us to specifically refer to all Missouri statutes predating or interrelated with either the Uniform Commercial Code or the 1965 Motor Vehicle Lien Act. The relevant statutes are cited and elaborately discussed in the District Court's opinion with which we have already indicated our agreement. Therefore, we adopt all such portions of the opinion for the purpose of supplying omitted details of the collateral statutes.

We are of the opinion that the 1965 Motor Vehicle Lien Act, V.A.M.S. § 301.600 is unambiguous, dispositive of the issue here, and meticulously complied with by Mercantile.

The 1965 Motor Vehicle Lien Act or Lien Perfection Statute.

Paragraph 2 of V.A.M.S. § 301.600 is the pertinent provision of the Act and provides:

"2. A lien or encumbrance on a motor vehicle or trailer is perfected by the delivery to the director of revenue of the existing certificate of ownership, if any, an application for a certificate of ownership containing the name and address of the lienholder and the date of his security agreement, and the required

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