In re R. E. Taylor Corp.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I am unable to concur, while conceding that on the facts the question is a close one. The question involved, as it seems to me, is whether one who in effect has attempted to defeat the purpose of the chattel mortgage act may nevertheless claim the benefit of the mortgage. The facts lie within a narrow com
“Q. Who purchased those ears from you? A. The It. E. Taylor Corporation. Q. In whose name were they purchased? A. Mr. Cowan’s. Q. You knew it was purchased by Mr. Cowan for the It. E. Taylor Corporation? A. Yes.”
It was said in Re Cannon (D. C.) 121 Fed. 582, 584, that:
•‘The mischief which the recording laws are intended to prevent is the obtaining of credit by reason of the ostensible ownership of property which in reality is covered by a secret lien, and the great object of all such laws is to give notice -notice to all purchasers and notice to creditors who give credit on the faith of property.”
That is undoubtedly the purpose of the chattel mortgage law. And such a transaction as the record in this case discloses cannot be uphold by the courts, in my opinion, without disregarding the intent of the statute, and without ignoring the object which the Legislature intended to accomplish by its enactment. The sale to Cowan was a mere pretense and sham, and the effect of what was done was to give the Taylor Corporation a credit on the faith of property subject to a lien which its creditors could not discover. It is not necessary to inquire whether any creditors were actually deceived or prejudiced by what was done. They might have been, and that is sufficient.
The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Re Duggan, 183 Fed. 405, 106 C. C. A. 51, held that a chattel mortgage, withheld from record for several months by the mortgagee under a tacit agreement to do so because of the effect which the record would have on the mortgagor’s credit, is fraudulent and void, both as to prior and subsequent creditors. In this case, as in that, the effect of what was done was to give a fictitious credit to the Taylor Corporation. The testimony is that that company was about to sell certain of its preferred stock, and that one of the conditions of that preferred stock was that no other or additional liens should he placed upon the property of the corporation. The attorney for the Maxwell Company testified that he argued for several days with the attorney for the bankrupt that a chattel mortgage on the cars about to be purchased was not placing a lien on the
The conclusion I have reached is that a vendor of personal property, who consents to take a mortgage on the property in the name of one he knows is a dummy, and who never has or was intended to have possession of the property, and who has no interest therein, cannot enforce it as against the creditors of the real beneficial owner. It is not necessary to the validity of a chattel mortgage that the mortgagor have an absolute title to the property mortgaged, but he must have some interest therein. A mortgage in which the mortgagor has no interest is void. Learned v. Brown, 94 Fed. 876, 36 C. C. A. 524; Jewell v. Simpson, 38 Kan. 362, 16 Pac. 450. At. the best all that can possibly be said for Cowan’s interest is that he took as trustee for the Taylor Corporation, which furnished such money as was paid over and agreed to pay the balance. The mortgagee acquired only the interest of the mortgagor. Bourland v. McKnight, 79 Ark. 427, 96 S. W. 179, 4 L. R. A. (N. S.) 698; Rainey v. Nance, 54 Ill. 29; Dillon v. Mizell Live Stock Co., 66 Fla. 425, 63 South. 824. A man cannot grant or charge that which he hath not. Titusville Iron Co. v. New York, 207 N. Y. 203, 209, 100 N. E. 806. If Cowan is to be regarded as a trustee for the Taylor Corporation, and the Maxwell Corporation took with full knowledge of that fact a mortgage which did not disclose the cestui’s interest, it would be postponed to the rights of the creditors of. the cestui who had no notice, and therefore of the trustee in bankruptcy; the intent of the Lien Law being that no chattel mortgage shall be good as against the creditors of the owner who are without either constructive or actual notice thereof. The rights of the creditors of the cestui are superior to those of the mortgagee under such circumstances.
Opinion of the Court
In September, 1916, the R. Eh Taylor Corporation was in negotiation with the Maxwell Motor Sales Corporation for the purchase of 20 automobiles. The Maxwell Company was not willing to sell on credit, but required that a chattel mortgage be given it for the balance of the purchase money unpaid. The Taylor Company was not willing to do this, because it was about to sell some of its preferred stock under an agreement that no additional liens should be placed upon its property. Therefore it was arranged that one Cowan should take title to the cars and give a chattel mortgage upon them to
March 28, 1917, an involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed against the Taylor Company, and a receiver was appointed April 20th. The Maxwell Company, in accordance, as it is stated, with the terms of the mortgage, took possession of 10 of the cars for nonpayment of notes, and 10 came into the possession of the receiver. May 3, 1917, Judge Mayer, upon the motion of the receiver, ordered the Maxwell Company to turn over the cars in its possession to him, and that he sell them free and clear and out of the proceeds pay the lien of the Maxwell Company.
May 8th, the circumstances under which the chattel mortgage was executed having come to the knowledge of the receiver, he filed a petition praying that the Maxwell Company be enjoined from making any claim upon the proceeds of sale, because the chattel mortgage was void as against him, representing the creditors of the Taylor Company it having been made in fraud of the Lien Law. June 8th Judge Augustus N. Hand entered an order denying the petition, and thereupon the receiver filed this petition to revise.
Section 230, art. 10, of the Lien Law, reads:
“Every mortgage or conveyance intended to operate as a mortgage of goods and chattels or of any canal boat, steam tug, scow or other craft, or the appurtenances thereto, navigating the canals of the state, which is not accompanied by an immediate delivery, and followed by an actual and continued change of possession of the things mortgaged, is absolutely void as against the creditors of the mortgagor, and as against subsequent -purchasers and mortgagees in good faith, unless the mortgage, or a true copy thereof, is filed as directed in this article.”
We see nothing to indicate that a fraud was practiced by any of the parties either upon the Lien Law or upon any one. The Maxwell Company was certainly entitled to insist upon a mortgage from the purchaser, and it sold to Cowan in order to get a mortgage. That was what the parties intended to do, and Cowan must be regarded as being the purchaser. As the mortgage was duly filed, knowledge of it was imputed to Cowan’s creditors, and of course to the Maxwell Company, which had actual notice of it. If the purchasers of Taylor & Co.’s preferred stock have any right to complain, it is clear no fraud was practiced upon them, because" the Taylor Company’s covenant not to put any additional liens on its property would not apply to subsequently acquired property. In it the preferred stockholders would get the benefit of everything the Taylor Company had, viz. the equity over the mortgage.
The order is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re R. E. TAYLOR CORP. In re PRENTICE
- Status
- Published