Court Opinion

ID: 9792105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:23:06.251195+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:40.545946
License: Public Domain

Mallery, J.
(dissenting) — The lien claimant herein has complied with the title registration act (RCW 46.12.170) but not with the chattel mortgage filing statute (RCW 61-.04.020). This is exactly the reverse situation from the three cases cited by the majority: Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. Hambright, 16 Wn. (2d) 81, 133 P. (2d) 278; Junkin v. Anderson, 12 Wn. (2d) 58, 120 P. (2d) 548, 123 P. (2d) 759; Merchants Rating & Adjusting Co. v. Skaug, 4 Wn. (2d) 46, 102 P. (2d) 227. We must for the first time, therefore, say whether compliance with the title registration act alone creates a valid lien.
Our present question is simply this: Do the requirements for perfecting a chattel mortgage as to motor vehicles under the title registration act supersede the requirements for perfecting a chattel mortgage under the chattel mortgage act, or are they merely additions to the chattel mortgage act? Stated another way, does a valid lien upon a motor vehicle require compliance with both statutes, or is compliance with the title registration act alone sufficient?
Both acts, of course, contemplate the execution of an instrument sufficient in its provisions to constitute a chattel mortgage. The answer to our question, therefore, relates only to the statutory requirements of giving notice for the *551purpose of safeguarding subsequent dealings with the motor vehicle in question.
In arriving at the intent of the legislature in enacting the title registration act, a decisive factor is the invariable custom of the legislature to make acts relating to motor vehicles applicable to them only. All such statutes have been sui generis from the first such act to the present time. Compliance with the motor vehicle code is and has always been all that is required. This is particularly persuasive in view of the comprehensive nature of the title registration act.
The onerous requirement put upon the transfer and encumbrancing of the title to motor vehicles by the title registration act is compensated by the security afforded the parties. This is because the certificate of title shows the exact condition of the title at all times. Other chattels may be transferred by payment and delivery, the acme of simplicity, but this easy method without any safeguards proved to be undesirable for motor vehicles.
No one has or can point out a single safeguard in the chattel mortgage act that is not more effectively accomplished by the title registration act. Nor can anyone show anything to be accomplished by complying with the chattel mortgage act after complying with the title registration act.
The questions posed by the majority opinion as to procedure and priorities in the case of motor vehicle mortgages, which are perfected by compliance with the title registration act, are answered by reference to the chattel mortgage act itself, which governs the substantive rights of all mortgages. As to the questions relating to notice and constructive notice, it is apparent that no one can deal in any way with the title to a motor vehicle under the title registration act without having actual notice of all encumbrances upon it. This flows from the fact that a registered title speaks the truth at all times because of the requirement that no change can be accomplished without being incorporated into it. The need for constructive notice is thus obviated by the actual notice that all interested parties are bound to have by an inspection of the certificate of title itself. Notice to disinterested parties is academic. Provision for “public notice” *552under all statutes is required as a safeguard for interested parties. No legitimate purpose is served by giving notice to strangers who have only a disinterested curiosity.
Practically all existing motor vehicle mortgages will be invalidated by the majority opinion because of the uniform practice of complying only with the title registration act. The resulting hardship and confusion are unnecessary in view of the legislative intent that the motor vehicle code in general and the title registration act in particular should be interpreted as being sui generis. Hence, all rights relating to motor vehicles should be ascertainable by reference to the motor vehicle code.
I dissent.