Opinion ID: 487154
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Effect of the Untimely Reinscription

Text: 13 Lift contends that because ITT failed to reinscribe its assignment of accounts receivable during the life of the initial recordation, the assignment expired, resuscitatable only by an entirely new assignment. Lift's argument turns on a literal reading of the Act. In 1979, La.R.S. 9:3104, providing for filing and recordation of the statement of assignment of accounts receivable under the Act, read in pertinent part: 14 Every such statement shall become effective, in the sense in which the term is used in R.S. 9:3102 from the time of filing; and said filing shall constitute public notice to all persons that assignment of accounts made in accordance with this Part, at any time during the effective period thereof, shall be valid and enforceable as provided herein. 15 Lift would have us hold that under this provision the statement of assignment, and therefore the assignment itself, could have no effect, even between the parties to the contract, except during the period in which the statement of assignment was validly filed of record. This argument confuses the statement of assignment with the actual assignment. The actual assignment may be made in a number of ways, including a separate written act of assignment, a notation on the ledgers of the assignor, or by reprogramming the assignor's computer. The statement of assignment, intended for recordation, is separately provided for in Sec. 3103. 16 In Agrico Chemical Co. v. E.K. Painting, Inc., 432 So.2d 253 (La.1983), the Louisiana Supreme Court faced a similar situation--also involving the 1979 version of the Act--and held that the statement of the assignment, which affects only third parties, need not be filed in order for the assignment to be effective between the contracting parties. Wearing an Erie type robe, we adhere to this teaching by Louisiana's highest court 3 and now hold that the lapse between inscription and reinscription in this case did not affect the validity of the assignment of accounts receivable between Lift and ITT.