Opinion ID: 2112763
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: summary judgment, directed verdict, and other rulings

Text: We begin our analysis of the propriety of the district court's grant of a partial summary judgment, direction of the verdict, and trial rulings by reviewing the nature of a replevin action. In Schrandt v. Young, 62 Neb. 254, 259, 86 N.W. 1085, 1087 (1901), citing Gillespie v. Brown & Ryan Bros., 16 Neb. 457, 20 N.W. 632 (1884), this court stated: The replevin action is primarily to adjudicate the possession of the property. Other rights and claims must be determined, as a general rule, in other appropriate proceedings, even though closely connected with the controversy out of which the contest over possession arises. The plaintiff in Securities Investment Corporation v. Krejci, 132 Neb. 146, 271 N.W. 287 (1937), sought to replevy a truck subject to a chattel mortgage. The defendant filed a general denial and raised the defense that the plaintiff owed the defendant for breach of warranty and misrepresentation in relation to the sale of the truck. Although this court reversed the verdict in defendant's favor, it stated at 147, 271 N.W. at 287: Certainly, if the plaintiff is indebted to the defendant for damages resulting from a breach of warranty or misrepresentation in the sale of the truck involved in the transaction, which damages are at least equal to the amount due upon the note, it is a valid defense in a replevin action. (Emphasis supplied.) In Arcadia State Bank v. Nelson, 222 Neb. 704, 386 N.W.2d 451 (1986), this court reiterated that the subject matter of a replevin action is very narrow. `[S]ince the main issue in a replevin action is one of title and right to possession, all matters foreign thereto must be excluded from consideration and are not available as defenses.' Id. at 711, 386 N.W.2d at 457. [T]he issue in replevin is not ownership of the property ... but the right to immediate possession at the time of the commencement of the action. (Emphasis in original.) Id. at 712, 386 N.W.2d at 457-58. The Arcadia plaintiff filed a replevin action against the defendants, Carl Nelson and his wife and son, seeking the immediate possession of certain items of personal property which had been pledged to the plaintiff by the husband. At the time the replevin petition was filed, all the property was in the possession of the husband, and the records on file with the county clerk revealed that the husband had executed a financing statement in favor of the son. Each Arcadia defendant answered separately, and the plaintiff moved for summary judgment against each of them. The trial court sustained the motion as to the husband, but overruled it as to the wife and son, as those two had denied that the husband was the sole owner of the property. After a trial, Judgment was also entered against the wife, but the jury found the son had an ownership interest in the property. The plaintiff appealed from the finding for the son. The Arcadia court ruled that once the trial court had entered summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the husband, the only party in possession of the property sought to be replevied, the lawsuit was over. The Arcadia court observed, however, that had the property been in the son's possession rather than the husband's, the son's alleged claim of ownership might have been relevant. But as the facts established that the property was in the husband's possession, the son's interest was not relevant. All that the Bank was seeking to do was to obtain possession. The replevin did not give it a right to dispose of the property, only the right to have possession. Its right to dispose of the property came by reason of the security agreement signed by Carl Nelson. If, indeed, the Bank did not have the right to dispose of the property, once having acquired possession, Jerry Nelson was at liberty to bring an appropriate action to bar such disposition. That, however, was a part of a separate action and not properly a part of the replevin action. Id. at 712, 386 N.W.2d at 457. The Arcadia court also discussed Blue Valley Bank v. Bane & Co., 20 Neb. 294, 30 N.W. 64 (1886), in which the general owner of a stock of goods was in default on a debt in favor of Blue Valley Bank, which held two chattel mortgages on the goods. In order to foreclose the mortgages, Blue Valley seized and took possession of the goods. At about this time, several general creditors of the owner issued writs of attachment in efforts to levy upon the same goods. The trial court entered a judgment of possession in favor of Blue Valley, but found that the replevied goods had a value in excess of the debt the owner owed Blue Valley and entered judgment for the other creditors in that amount. On appeal, this court affirmed the ruling that Blue Valley was entitled to possession, but reversed the portion of the judgment which assessed damages against Blue Valley and in favor of the other creditors for the surplus funds. In so doing, the Blue Valley court stated at 299, 30 N.W. at 67: The action of replevin, or, as it is, I think, more appropriately termed in our state, the action for the delivery of personal property, is a statutory action, every proceeding in which is specially provided for by statute. It cannot be changed into a suit in equity, nor into one for money had and received; neither does off-set or counter-claim lie against it. Thus, the issue in a replevin action is not ownership of the property, but the right to immediate possession at the time of the commencement of the action, and, as a general rule, all matters foreign to the issue of possession must be excluded from consideration and are not available as defenses. Accord, e.g., Dubied Machinery Co. v. Vermont Knitting Co., Inc., 739 F.Supp. 867 (S.D.N.Y.1990) (counterclaims relating to item not replevied could not serve as a defense to replevy of another item); Faulkner v. Marineland, Inc., 18 Conn.App. 1, 555 A.2d 1001 (1989) (claims for storage fees and interest not arising out of replevy not recoverable); Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Caiazzo, 387 Pa.Super. 561, 564 A.2d 931 (1989) (breach of warranty defense, as well as counterclaims for return of purchase price paid and defamation damages, not proper defenses to replevin action). Consequently, the only matters properly at issue in this case were whether the Barelmanns were indebted to the bank and, if so, whether the bank possessed a valid lien on the property it seized. On those issues the district court granted the bank's motion for summary judgment. At this juncture it is well to recall that summary judgment is properly granted only when the pleadings, depositions, admissions, stipulations, and affidavits in the record disclose that there is no genuine issue concerning any material fact or as to the ultimate inferences deducible from such facts and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Flamme v. Wolf Ins. Agency, 239 Neb. 465, 476 N.W.2d 802 (1991), citing Krohn v. Gardner, 238 Neb. 460, 471 N.W.2d 391 (1991). Once the movant has established facts entitling him to summary judgment, the nonmovant has the burden of presenting evidence to show an issue of material fact which prevents a judgment as a matter of law. A.G.A. Inc. v. First Nat. Bank, 239 Neb. 74, 75, 474 N.W.2d 655, 656 (1991). On appeal, it is this court's duty to review the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment was granted and give such party the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence. Id.