2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 55 - Uniform Commercial Code › Article 9 - Secured Transactions › Part 3 - PERFECTION AND PRIORITY › Subpart 3 - PRIORITY › Section 55-9-317 - Interests that take priority over or take free of security interest or agricultural lien.

(a) A security interest or agricultural lien is subordinate to the rights of:
(1) a person entitled to priority under Section 55-9-322 NMSA 1978; and
(2) except as otherwise provided in Subsection (e) of this section, a person that becomes a lien creditor before the earlier of the time:
(A) the security interest or agricultural lien is perfected; or
(B) one of the conditions specified in Paragraph (3) of Subsection (b) of Section 55-9-203 NMSA 1978 is met and a financing statement covering the collateral is filed.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in Subsection (e) of this section, a buyer, other than a secured party, of tangible chattel paper, tangible documents, goods, instruments or a security certificate takes free of a security interest or agricultural lien if the buyer gives value and receives delivery of the collateral without knowledge of the security interest or agricultural lien and before it is perfected.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in Subsection (e) of this section, a lessee of goods takes free of a security interest or agricultural lien if the lessee gives value and receives delivery of the collateral without knowledge of the security interest or agricultural lien and before it is perfected.
(d) A licensee of a general intangible or a buyer, other than a secured party, of collateral other than tangible chattel paper, tangible documents, goods, instruments or a certificated security takes free of a security interest if the licensee or buyer gives value without knowledge of the security interest and before it is perfected.
(e) Except as otherwise provided in Sections 55-9-320 and 55-9-321 NMSA 1978, if a person files a financing statement with respect to a purchase-money security interest before or within twenty days after the debtor receives delivery of the collateral, the security interest takes priority over the rights of a buyer, lessee or lien creditor that arise between the time the security interest attaches and the time of filing.
History:
1978 Comp., § 55-9-317, enacted by Laws 2001, ch. 139, § 37; 2005, ch. 144, § 105; 2013, ch. 137, § 8.
OFFICIAL COMMENTS
UCC Official Comments by ALI & the NCCUSL. Reproduced with permission of the PEB for the UCC. All rights reserved.
1.
Source.
Former Sections 2A-307(2) and 9-301 [55-2A-307, 55-9-301 NMSA 1978, respectively].
2.
Scope of This Section.
As did former section 9-301, this section lists the classes of persons who take priority over, or take free of, an unperfected security interest. Section 9-308 [55-9-308 NMSA 1978] explains when a security interest or agricultural lien is "perfected." A security interest that has attached (
see
Section 9-203) but as to which a required perfection step has not been taken is "unperfected." Certain provisions have been moved from former Section 9-301. The definition of "lien creditor" now appears in Section 9-102 [55-9-102 NMSA 1978], and the rules governing priority in future advances are found in Section 9-323 [55-9-323 NMSA 1978].
3.
Competing Security Interests.
Section 9-322 [55-9-322 NMSA 1978] states general rules for determining priority among conflicting security interests and refers to other sections that state special rules of priority in a variety of situations. The security interests given priority under Section 9-322 and the other sections to which it refers take priority in general even over a perfected security interest. A fortiori they take priority over an unperfected security interest.
4.
Filed but Unattached Security Interest vs. Lien Creditor.
Under former Section 9-301(1)(b), a lien creditor's rights had priority over an unperfected security interest. Perfection required attachment (former Section 9-303 [55-9-303 NMSA 1978]) and attachment required the giving of value (former Section 9-203). It followed that, if a secured party had filed a financing statement, but the debtor had not entered into a security agreement and value had not yet been given, an intervening lien creditor whose lien arose after filing but before attachment of the security interest acquired rights that are senior to those of the secured party who later gives value. This result comported with the nemo dat concept: When the security interest attached, the collateral was already subject to the judicial lien.
On the other hand, this approach treated the first secured advance differently from all other advances, even in circumstances in which a security agreement covering the collateral had been entered into before the judicial lien attached. The special rule for future advances in former Section 9-301(4) (substantially reproduced in Section 9-323(b)) afforded priority to a discretionary advance made by a secured party within 45 days after the lien creditor's rights arose as long as the secured party was "perfected" when the lien creditor's lien arose -
i.e.
, as long as the advance was not the first one and an earlier advance had been made.
Subsection (a)(2) revises former Section 9-301(1)(b) and treats, in appropriate cases, the first advance the same as subsequent advances. More specifically, a judicial lien that arises after a financing statement is filed, but before the security agreement condition of Section 9-203(b) is satisfied and the security interest attaches and becomes perfected, is subordinate to all advances secured by the security interest, even the first advance, except as otherwise provided in Section 9-323(b). However, if the security interest becomes unperfected (
e.g.
, because the effectiveness of the filed financing statement lapses) before the judicial lien arises, the security interest is subordinate. If a financing statement is filed but a security interest does not attach, then no priority contest arises. The lien creditor has the only enforceable claim to the property.
5.
Security Interest of Consignor or Receivables Buyer vs. Lien Creditor.
Section 1-201(b)(35) [55-1-201NMSA 1978] defines "security interest" to include the interest of most true consignors of goods and the interest of most buyers of certain receivables (accounts, chattel paper, payment intangibles, and promissory notes). A consignee of goods or a seller of accounts or chattel paper each is deemed to have rights in the collateral which a lien creditor may reach, as long as the competing security interest of the consignor or buyer is unperfected. This is so even though, as between the consignor and the debtor-consignee, the latter has only limited rights, and, as between the buyer and debtor-seller, the latter does not have any rights in the collateral.
See
Sections 9-318 [55-9-318 NMSA 1978] (seller), 9-319 [55-9-319 NMSA 1978] (consignee). Security interests arising from sales of payment intangibles and promissory notes are automatically perfected.
See
Section 9-309 [55-9-309 NMSA 1978]. Accordingly, a subsequent judicial lien always would be subordinate to the rights of a buyer of those types of receivables.
6.
Purchasers Other Than Secured Parties.
Subsections (b), (c), (d), and (f) through (i) afford priority over an unperfected security interest to certain buyers (other than secured parties) of collateral. They derive in part from pre-1998 Sections 9-301(1)(c), 2A-307(2), and 9-301(d). Pre-1998 Section 9-301(1)(c) and (1)(d) provided that unperfected security interests are "subordinate" to the rights of certain purchasers. But, as pre-1998 Comment 9 suggested, the practical effect of subordination in this context is that the purchaser takes free of the security interest. To avoid any possible misinterpretation these subsections now use the phrase "takes free."
Subsection (b) governs goods, as well as intangibles of the type whose transfer is effected by physical delivery of the representative piece of paper (tangible documents, instruments, and security certificates). To obtain priority, a buyer must both give value and receive delivery of the collateral without knowledge of the existing security interest and before perfection. Even if the buyer gave value without knowledge and before perfection, the buyer would take subject to the security interest if perfection occurred before physical delivery of the collateral to the buyer. Subsection (c) contains a similar rule with respect to lessees of goods. Note that a lessee of goods in ordinary course of business takes free of all security interests created by the lessor, even if perfected.
See
Section 9-321.
Normally, there will be no question when a buyer of chattel paper, documents, instruments, or security certificates "receives delivery" of the property.
See
Section 1-201 (defining "delivery"). However, sometimes a buyer or lessee of goods, such as complex machinery, takes delivery of the goods in stages and completes assembly at its own location. Under those circumstances, the buyer or lessee "receives delivery" within the meaning of Subsections (b) and (c) when, after an inspection of the portion of the goods remaining with the seller or lessor, it would be apparent to a potential lender to the seller or lessor that another person might have an interest in the goods.
Subsection (b) no longer applies to chattel paper. The take-free rule in Subsection (f) for buyers of chattel paper reflects the corresponding 2022 changes in the definition of chattel paper and in the methods of perfection.
See
Sections 9-102(a)(11) [55-9-102 NMSA 1978] (defining "chattel paper"); 9-314A (perfection by possession and control). Note that subsection (f) applies only to a buyer of chattel paper "other than a secured party" and most buyers of chattel paper are secured parties.
See
Sections 9-102(a)(73) (defining "secured party" as including a person to which chattel paper has been sold); 9-109(a)(3) (Article 9 applies to a sale of chattel paper); 1-201(b)(35) (defining "security interest" to include the interest of a buyer of chattel paper). However, Article 9 does not apply to "a sale of . . . chattel paper . . . as part of a sale of the business out of which . . . [the chattel paper] arose" and, accordingly, subsection (f) could apply to a buyer of chattel paper in such a sale-of-business transaction. Subsection (f) provides that such a buyer of chattel paper takes free of a security interest if, without knowledge of the security interest and before it is perfected, the buyer gives value and receives delivery of each authoritative tangible copy of the record evidencing the chattel paper and, if the chattel paper can be subjected to control, the buyer obtains control of each authoritative electronic copy.
Although chattel paper has been removed from subsection (b), the phrase "other than a secured party" has been retained because buyers of instruments that are promissory notes, but not buyers of other instruments, are secured parties.
See
Sections 9-109(a)(3) (Article 9 applies to a sale of a promissory note); 1-201(b)(35) (defining "security interest" to include the interest of a buyer of a promissory note).
The rule of Subsection (b) obviously is not appropriate where the collateral consists of intangibles and there is no representative piece of paper whose physical delivery is the only or the customary method of transfer or no means of taking control of the collateral as a functional equivalent of a delivery. Therefore, with respect to such intangibles (including accounts other than controllable accounts, electronic documents not subject to control, general intangibles other than controllable payment intangibles, and investment property other than certificated securities), Subsection (d) gives priority to any buyer who gives value without knowledge, and before perfection, of the security interest. Buyers of electronic money also are excluded from the application of Subsection (d) because transferees of electronic money which obtain control take free of security interests under Section 9-332(c) [55-9-332 NMSA 1978], which provides a standard more generous to transferees than Subsection (d). A licensee of a general intangible takes free of an unperfected security interest in the general intangible under the same circumstances (to the extent of the licensee's rights under the license). Note that a licensee of a general intangible in ordinary course of business takes rights under a nonexclusive license free of security interests created by the licensor, even if perfected.
See
Section 9-321 [55-9-321 NMSA 1978].
Unless Section 9-109 excludes the transaction from this Article, a buyer of accounts, payment intangibles, or promissory notes is a "secured party" (defined in Section 9-102), and Subsection (d) does not determine priority of the security interest created by the sale. Rather, the priority rules generally applicable to competing security interests apply.
See, e.g.
, Section 9-322.
6A.
Buyers of Electronic Documents, Controllable Electronic Records, Controllable Accounts, and Controllable Payment Intangibles.
Subsection (g) provides a take-free rule for electronic documents, Subsection (h) so provides for controllable electronic records, and Subsection (i) so provides for controllable accounts and controllable payment intangibles. Subsection (g) conditions the take-free rule on the buyer obtaining control of authoritative electronic copies of the document only if the authoritative electronic copies can be subjected to control. Subsection (h) conditions the take-free rule for a buyer of a controllable electronic record on the buyer's obtaining control of the electronic record. Similarly, under Subsection (i), the take-free rule for a buyer, other than a secured party, of a controllable account or controllable payment intangible is conditioned on the buyer's obtaining control of the account or payment intangible. Although in general a buyer of an account or a payment intangible is a secured party, there are limited exceptions.
See
Sections 1-201(b)(35) ("security interest" includes interest of buyer of accounts or payment intangibles); 9-109(d)(4) (inapplicability of Article 9 to sale of accounts or payment intangibles as a part of the sale of a business).
7.
Agricultural Liens.
Subsections (a), (b), and (c) subordinate unperfected agricultural liens in the same manner in which they subordinate unperfected security interests.
8.
Purchase-Money Security Interests.
Subsection (e) derives from former Section 9-301(2). It provides that, if a purchase-money security interest is perfected by filing no later than 20 days after the debtor receives delivery of the collateral, the security interest takes priority over the rights of buyers, lessees, or lien creditors which arise between the time the security interest attaches and the time of filing. Subsection (e) differs from former Section 9-301(2) in two significant respects. First, Subsection (e) protects a purchase-money security interest against all buyers and lessees, not just against transferees in bulk. Second, subsection (e) conditions this protection on filing within 20, as opposed to ten, days after delivery.
Section 9-311(b) provides that compliance with the perfection requirements of a statute or treaty described in Section 9-311(a) "is equivalent to the filing of a financing statement." It follows that a person who perfects a security interest in goods covered by a certificate of title by complying with the perfection requirements of an applicable certificate-of-title statute "files a financing statement" within the meaning of Subsection (e).
ANNOTATIONS
Repeals and reenactments.
— Laws 2001, ch. 139, § 37 repealed former 55-9-317 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1961, ch. 96, § 9-317, and enacted a new section, effective July 1, 2001.
The 2013 amendment,
effective July 1, 2013, changed the type of collateral that a buyer takes free of a security interest; and in Subsection (d), after "other than a secured party, of" deleted "accounts, electronic chattel paper, electronic documents, general intangibles or investment property" and added "collateral" and after "collateral other than", added "tangible chattel paper, tangible documents, goods, instruments or".
The 2005 amendment,
effective January 1, 2006, changes the phrase "negotiable documents" to "tangible negotiable documents" in Subsection (b) and provides in Subsection (d) that a licensee of electronic documents takes free of a security interest if the licensee gives value without knowledge of the security interest before it is perfected.
Law reviews.
— For article, "The Warehouseman vs. the Secured Party: Who Prevails When the Warehouseman's Lien Covers Goods Subject to a Security Interest?" see 8 Nat. Resources J. 331 (1968).
For article, "Buyers and Sellers of Goods in Bankruptcy," see 1 N.M. L. Rev. 435 (1971).
For note, "Commercial Law - And Then Personal Property Became Real Property: In re Anthony," see 23 N.M.L. Rev. 263 (1993).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— Constructive notice by record, 63 A.L.R. 1456.
Conditional sale contract as affected by seller's acceptance of a chattel mortgage from the buyer covering the same property, priorities, 95 A.L.R. 350.
Constitutionality, construction and application of statute respecting sale, assignment or transfer of retail installment contracts, 10 A.L.R.2d 447.
Coverage of "nonrecording" or "nonfiling" insurance against loss from failure to record chattel mortgage, conditional sale or other security instrument, 51 A.L.R.2d 325.
Priority, as between holder of unfiled or unrecorded chattel mortgage who secures possession of goods or chattels, and subsequent purchaser or encumbrancer, 53 A.L.R.2d 936.
Priority as between mechanic's lien and purchase money mortgage, 73 A.L.R.2d 1407.
Priority as between seller or conditional seller of personalty and claimant under after-acquired property clause of mortgage or other instrument, 86 A.L.R.2d 1152.
Priority between attorney's lien for fees against a judgment and lien of creditor against same judgment, 34 A.L.R.4th 665.
Equitable estoppel of secured party's right to assert prior, perfected security interest against other secured creditor or subsequent purchaser under Article 9 of Uniform Commercial Code, 9 A.L.R.5th 708.