Leach Co. v. Clark
Leach Co. v. Clark
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff claims that as to the property attached the contract was a conditional sales contract and properly filed and that its lien is superior to that of the attachments. The defendants claim that as to such property the contract was a chattel mortgage; that the contract was not properly filed because not filed with the city clerk of Seymour, and that the lien of their attachments is superior to that of plaintiff under the contract. The plaintiff also claims that if the instrument was a chattel mortgage, it was still properly filed because the purchaser was a nonresident.
Sec. 122.06 of the Statutes provides that a conditional sales contract or copy shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the town, city, or village in which the goods are first kept for use by the buyers after sale. If the instrument was a conditional sales contract it was properly filed and the position of plaintiff is correct, as the contract was filed with the clerks of the city and town where the property was first used by the buyer.
Was the contract a chattel mortgage? The essential of a chattel mortgage is that it be a transfer of the property as security for a payment of money. We cannot say the contract here was such an instrument. To make it a chattel mortgage there would have to be a conveyance from Trace back to the Oshkosh Company to secure money. No such conveyance is recited or evidenced. A conveyance of personal property appraised a year after the transaction at $4,875 was not taken as security for a payment of $35,000; and there is no recital or evidence or indication that it was taken as security for any other sum.
The conclusion of the trial court that the contract is a chattel mortgage was based wholly upon the stipulation in the contract that it might be filed as a chattel mortgage and the stipulation in the case that it was filed as such. It is argued that as the intention of the parties was that it be considered as a chattel mortgage, it should be construed according to that intention. But if it be granted that such was the intention, the intention of the parties will not control the legal effect of their transaction. 11 Corp. Jur. p. 405.
Was the contract a conditional sale ? By our statute, sec. 122.01, a conditional sale is “any contract for the sale of
We conclude that the contract was a conditional sale within the meaning of sec. 122.01, and that the plaintiff’s rights are superior to those of the attaching creditors, except as to the brick and oil tank, which should be retained by the sheriff and sold under the attachments. This renders it unnecessary to review the court’s finding upon the question of Trace’s residence.
It appears from the printed case that the plaintiff and defendants Trace and the Clay Products Company entered into stipulations for settlement of the issues as between themselves, but the stipulations are not in the record and their contents are not stated and we cannot indicate the form of judgment to be entered.
By the Court. — The judgment appealed from is reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leach Company v. Clark and others, imp.
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- Published