Opinion ID: 1966624
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: green tree's right to possession

Text: The trial court directed a verdict in favor of Green Tree as to the issue of possession. The trial court necessarily found that Green Tree had a valid lien on the manufactured home listed on the certificate of title, that it did not need to make a fixture filing in order to perfect its security interest, and that the manufactured home could be treated as a motor vehicle rather than as property affixed to real estate. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 60-110 (Reissue 1998) provides: The provisions of article 9, Uniform Commercial Code, shall never be construed to apply to or to permit or require the deposit, filing, or other record whatsoever of a security agreement, conveyance intended to operate as a mortgage, trust receipt, conditional sales contract, or similar instrument or any copy of the same covering a motor vehicle. Any mortgage, conveyance intended to operate as a security agreement as provided by article 9, Uniform Commercial Code, trust receipt, conditional sales contract, or other similar instrument covering a motor vehicle ... if a notation of the same has been made by the county clerk or the Department of Motor Vehicles on the face thereof, shall be valid as against the creditors of the debtor, whether armed with process or not, and subsequent purchasers, secured parties, and other lienholders or claimants but otherwise shall not be valid against them.... At the time that Green Tree filed its petition in replevin, Neb. U.C.C. § 9-302(3)(b) (Cum.Supp.1996) stated that the filing of a financing statement is not necessary or effective to perfect a security interest in property subject to § 60-110 (now found at Neb. U.C.C. § 9-311(a)(2)(i) (Reissue 2001)). Thus, a lien on a motor vehicle under § 60-110 is valid when noted on the certificate of title, and not through a fixture filing under article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. In Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Reeves, 223 Neb. 299, 389 N.W.2d 295 (1986), we stated that the characterization put upon articles as fixtures or nonfixtures by parties to a purchase contract should be upheld where the rights of third parties are not adversely affected, no statute suggests a contrary result, and the articles are not so completely merged with the realty as to prevent removal of the article without material injury to the realty. The original contract between the Becks and Green Tree clearly demonstrate their intent for the manufactured home to remain personal property and not become a fixture. Paragraph 9 of the contract between the Becks and Green Tree states: I agree that regardless of how my Manufactured Home is attached to the real property and regardless of how your security interest in my Manufactured Home is perfected and regardless of whether an affidavit of affixture (or other similar instrument identifying the property as a fixture) has been recorded, my Manufactured Home is and shall remain personal property and is not and shall not become a fixture or part of the real property unless you consent in writing and state law permits a contrary classification. I agree to pay any and all personal property taxes assessed against my Manufactured Home and agree that failure to pay such taxes shall constitute a default under paragraph 14 on page 3. To the extent the Suttons claim to be innocent third parties adversely affected by the intent of the original parties or that removal of the manufactured home would materially injure the real property upon which it is placed, the plain language of the Nebraska Revised Statutes dictates that Green Tree was entitled to immediate possession of the manufactured home and did not need to file a fixture filing. In the absence of anything to the contrary, statutory language is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning; an appellate court will not resort to interpretation to ascertain the meaning of statutory words which are plain, direct, and unambiguous. Manker v. Manker, 263 Neb. 944, 644 N.W.2d 522 (2002); Chambers v. Lautenbaugh, 263 Neb. 920, 644 N.W.2d 540 (2002). Neb.Rev.Stat. § 60-102 (Reissue 1993) states, Sections 60-102 to 60-117 shall apply to motor vehicles, commercial trailers, and semitrailers required to be registered under sections 60-301 to 60-306 and all cabin trailers defined in section 60-614. . . . (Emphasis supplied.) Neb.Rev. Stat. § 60-614 (Reissue 1993) defines a cabin trailer as a trailer or semitrailer which is designed, constructed, and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode, or sleeping place, whether used for such purposes or instead permanently or temporarily for the advertising, sale, display, or promotion of merchandise or services or for any other commercial purpose. . . . Cabin trailer shall not mean a trailer or semitrailer which is permanently attached to real estate. There shall be three classes of cabin trailers: . . . . (2) Mobile home which shall include cabin trailers more than one hundred two inches in width or more than forty feet in length[.] The issue is, therefore, whether a manufactured home is within the scope of § 60-110 as a cabin trailer or mobile home. According to the Suttons, none of the statutory definitions setting forth what a motor vehicle is suggest that a manufactured home is a motor vehicle. Therefore, the Suttons claim that Green Tree was required to make a fixture filing. They claim that absent a fixture filing, Riggs, as an innocent purchaser for value without notice, passed title to the manufactured home to the Suttons. Green Tree, on the other hand, argues that it did all acts necessary under Nebraska law to obtain a perfected security interest in the manufactured home. Green Tree's lien was noted on the face of the certificate of title and was valid against the Suttons. Thus, Green Tree was entitled to immediate possession of the manufactured home. According to Neb.Rev.Stat. § 71-4603(1) (Reissue 1996), a manufactured home is defined as a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length or when erected on site is three hundred twenty or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure.... The size of the manufactured home is 28 feet by 58 feet. The home was not attached to real estate when originally purchased. It is designed, constructed, and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode, or sleeping place, and was used as a permanent residence. It is designed to be moved, and is issued or delivered in two parcels or sections. Both Will Anders and Edens reported seeing axles attached to the bottom of the home. Pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. § § 71-4621(1), 76-1463, and 81-5,138 (Reissue 1996), the term mobile home includes manufactured homes. While these statutes do not involve the certificates of title, they do provide insight as to how Nebraska law views manufactured homes. Nebraska law includes the term manufactured home within the definition of mobile home. Pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. § 60-113 (Reissue 1993), once the manufactured home was affixed to real property, the owner, in order to have the lien on a motor vehicle title canceled, would go to the county clerk's office to have the certificate of title surrendered. However, the lien noted on the certificate of title would still be valid if Green Tree did not consent to its being canceled. There appears to be nothing in the record which demonstrates that the Becks or the Suttons had the certificate of title surrendered or canceled. Thus, Green Tree would still have a valid lien on the manufactured home even if it was determined to be affixed to the Suttons' real property. Other courts have come to similar decisions regarding the effect of noting a lien for a mobile home or manufactured home on a certificate of title. See, Brockbank v. Best Capital Corp., 341 S.C. 372, 534 S.E.2d 688 (2000) (security interest in mobile home is perfected when such interest is listed on certificate of title to mobile home); ENT Fed. Cr. Un. v. Chrysler First Fin., 826 P.2d 430 (Colo.App.1992) (noting lien on certificate of title was all that was required to create lien on manufactured home); Beneficial Finance Co. v. Schroeder, 12 Kan.App.2d 150, 737 P.2d 52 (1987), review denied 241 Kan. 838, 737 P.2d 52 (bank properly perfected its security interest in mobile home by noting its interest on mobile home's certificate of title, and court noted that, as practical matter, if mobile homes were subject to fixture filing requirements, secured party with interest in mobile home could maintain priority only by making new fixture filing each time mobile home was moved). See, also, Hiers v. Bank One, 946 S.W.2d 196 (Ky.App.1996); Hughes v. Young, 115 N.C.App. 325, 444 S.E.2d 248 (1994), review denied 337 N.C. 692, 448 S.E.2d 525; Bank of Commerce v. Waddell, 731 S.W.2d 61 (Tenn.App.1986); T & O Mobile Homes v. United California Bank, 40 Cal.3d 441, 709 P.2d 430, 220 Cal.Rptr. 627 (1985) (decided under statutory scheme applicable during relevant transactions). Based on the above discussion, we conclude that the trial court did not err in granting Green Tree a directed verdict as to whether it had a right to immediate possession of the manufactured home. Green Tree noted its lien on the certificate of title to the manufactured home and did not need to make a fixture filing. It could thus treat the property as personal property rather than a fixture, since the certificate of title has not been surrendered with Green Tree's consent.