Opinion ID: 656121
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ownership of the Car

Text: 36 Bomar's next challenge to his conviction is that Meredith, not McNeely, was the owner of the Camaro; because she was not in military service, he argues, any attempt to foreclose on a storage lien on her car could not be a violation of the Act. McNeely conceded at trial that the title to the car was still in Meredith's name; neither he nor his sister had taken steps to transfer the title to him. 37 Under Texas law, bona fide car sales are valid as between buyer and seller even when they have not complied with the provisions of the Texas Certificate of Title Act, TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 6687-1 (Vernon 1977). See United States v. Gunter, 876 F.2d 1113, 1117 n. 4 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 871, 110 S.Ct. 198, 107 L.Ed.2d 152 (1989). Although McNeely admittedly did not comply with the legal requirements of transferring the title, the jury could have concluded that he owned the vehicle. There was no dispute at trial between McNeely and Meredith that McNeely had purchased the car in 1988. McNeely testified that he made cash payments to his sister for her remaining payments to GMAC; the car was paid off in March 1990. Prior to December 15, 1990, McNeely had paid all outstanding debt on the car to GMAC or Meredith. McNeely, with his mother's help, paid for all repairs needed. After selling the car to her brother, Meredith did not use her own money for payments, nor did she pay for gas, repairs, or insurance for the vehicle. McNeely explained the failure to transfer the title as an attempt to avoid paying additional finance charges to GMAC. There was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that McNeely owned the Camaro at the time he took it to Buy Direct for repairs.III. Court Records 38 Bomar claims that the government did not prove that he failed to apply for a court order allowing foreclosure on the lien on McNeely's car or to receive court approval for such a proceeding. 39 At trial, the government called Maria O. Makinen, a small claims court clerk at Precinct One, Position Two, in Harris County, Texas; Abe Martinez, the chief assistant of the Harris County District Court Clerk's office; and Melissa Steinbacher, the operations manager for the Clerk's Office for the United States District Court. Each of these witnesses testified that searches of the records of their respective courts for the months of December 1990 through May 1991 had revealed neither an application for, nor a court order granting, permission for Bomar or Buy Direct to foreclose upon a lien against any person. Bomar challenges the completeness of this evidence. 12 40 We conclude that the evidence submitted by the government is sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Bomar did not take steps to attain court approval of any foreclosure proceedings. The jury had before it voluminous evidence of Bomar's course of conduct in this matter, including evidence that although warned that his actions could constitute a violation of the Act he continued to pursue the full payment of storage fees. None of this evidence contains any hint of any actual, contemplated, threatened, or claimed court proceedings. 41 We hold that, taken in its entirety, the evidence was sufficient in this respect. 42