Title: Hill v. McGee

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

562 So. 2d 238 (1990)
Kenneth Dale HILL
v.
Enoch McGEE.
89-186.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 6, 1990.
Rodney B. Slusher, Florence, for appellant.
John E. Higginbotham and Thomas W. McCutcheon of Higginbotham & Whitten, Florence, for appellee.
SHORES, Justice.
This lawsuit involves a claim of conversion based on the disposition of three 1984 Freightliner trucks and one 1978 International truck. The plaintiff, Kenneth Dale Hill, sold the realty and other assets of Ponderosa Manufacturing Company (including these trucks) on August 2, 1988, to Douglas Blan Stewart, Jr., and his wife. As part of the sales transaction, Stewart *239 and his wife executed a document styled "security agreement" and a UCC-1 financing statement. The UCC-1 financing statement was filed with the Alabama secretary of state on August 16, 1988.
Upon taking possession of the vehicles, Stewart sold them to Muscle Shoals Mack Sales, Inc. ("Mack Sales"), providing certificates of title for the trucks. Mack Sales subsequently sold them to Enoch McGee for the sum of $38,688.75. Shortly thereafter, McGee sold the vehicles. Stewart and his wife defaulted on the promissory note to Hill in October 1988 and Hill foreclosed, taking possession of the remaining assets of the corporation. Stewart has disappeared.
Hill sued McGee and Mack Sales on February 2, 1989. The complaint alleged conversion of the four vehicles. McGee filed an answer and filed a cross-claim against his co-defendant, Mack Sales, on March 20, 1989. McGee subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment, which was heard on June 15, 1989. The trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of defendant McGee on the grounds that the Alabama Uniform Certificate of Title and Antitheft Act, Code 1975, §§ 32-8-1 et seq. (the "Act"), provides the "exclusive" method of perfecting a security interest in a motor vehicle covered by the Act:
C.R. 267-70.
This judgment was made final pursuant to Rule 54(b), A.R.Civ.P., on September 27, 1989, and from it Hill appeals.
The issue before us is whether the trial court erred in holding that the Alabama Uniform Certificate of Title and Antitheft Act, § 32-8-1 et seq., provides the exclusive method of perfecting a security interest in a motor vehicle covered by the Act so that a UCC-1 financing statement is not effective to perfect a security interest in such a motor vehicle. The Act covers all motor vehicles designated as 1975 and subsequent year models (§ 32-8-30), with specific exceptions (§ 32-8-31). The four trucks involved in this case fall within the Act. Section 32-8-66 provides: "The method provided in this article of perfecting and giving notice of security interest in motor vehicles required to be titled under the terms of this chapter or titled under the terms hereof, shall be exclusive." (Emphasis added.) Section 7-9-302(3)(a) and (b), part of Alabama's enactment of the Uniform Commercial Code, provide that a financing statement is "not effective" to perfect a security interest under Alabama's certificate of title act. "Where motor vehicles are concerned, this Act rather than Article 9 of the U.C.C. governs the perfection of security interests. Sections 7-9-302(3)(b) and 32-8-66, Code of Alabama 1975." First Dallas County Bank v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 425 So. 2d 460, at 464 (Ala.Civ.App.1982), aff'd, Ex parte General Motors Acceptance Corp., 425 So. 2d 464 (Ala.1983).
For the reasons stated above, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
AFFIRMED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and JONES, HOUSTON and KENNEDY, JJ., concur.