Opinion ID: 160061
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Priority Based on PMSI

Text: 25 NTPCA further argues that it has priority in the cattle sold to Conley based on the fact that it held a PMSI in the 1,688 head of cattle that the Clarks purchased through their loan from NTPCA. NTPCA alleges that the cattle sold to Conley were one and the same as those in which it held a PMSI. A party holds a PMSI in collateral if the security interest is taken by a person who by making advances or incurring an obligation gives value to enable the debtor to acquire rights in or the use of collateral if such value is in fact so used. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 12A, § 9-107. A perfected purchase money security interest generally takes priority over other perfected security interests. See Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 12A, § 9-312. Thus, NTPCA argues that, even if MCNB's 1991 Financing Statement is valid, it has a right to the proceeds of the sale to the extent that the Clarks sold cattle to Conley in which NTPCA held a PMSI. 26 Even assuming NTPCA did, in fact, have a PMSI in the cattle purchased with proceeds from its loan to the Clarks, we would nonetheless find that this argument does not warrant reversal because NTPCA cannot show that MCNB received proceeds from the sale of cattle in which it held a PMSI. NTPCA attempts to demonstrate that the cattle in which it had a PMSI were the same cattle the Clarks sold to Conley based on the average weight of the cattle purchased, sold, and owned by the Clarks at various points in time. It is impossible, however, for NTPCA to correlate the cattle sold to Conley with the cattle originally purchased by the Clarks based on average weight. 14 This is because evidence of the average weight of the cattle owned by the Clarks at any given point in time in no way shows that those cattle were one and the same as those in which NTPCA held a PMSI. 15 27 In addition, there is undisputed evidence in the record that NTPCA had no way of knowing whether the 1,090 head of cattle sold to Conley in September and October 1995 were the cattle in which NTPCA held a PMSI. Thomas Welch, Vice President of NTPCA and loan officer for the Clarks, stated during his deposition that, aside from 202 head of cattle sold to a Texas feed lot, Welch had no idea when or to whom the Clarks sold the remaining 1,486 head of cattle in which it held a PMSI. This evidence, coupled with the fact that no inferences may be drawn from the evidence of average weight offered by NTPCA, we conclude that the NTPCA has not shown that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the cattle in which it held a PMSI were sold to Conley. 16