Mother Lode Bank v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.

Plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment in an action for declaratory relief brought against defendant, General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Plaintiff and defendant claim conflicting security interests in two motor vehicles. The matter was tried upon a stipulated statement of facts and comes to us on the clerk’s transcript containing that stipulation.

Facts

In 1971, plaintiff, Mother Lode Bank, agreed to finance the purchase of new vehicles and to floor used vehicles for Targett Motors (“Targett”), a General Motors automobile dealership. Plaintiff also purchased conditional sales contracts from Targett when vehicles were sold. Such purchases were subject to a recourse contract requiring plaintiff to repossess the vehicles and Targett to accept their return and to repurchase the contract from the plaintiff by paying the unpaid balance of the contract less unearned interest.

In March and April 1972, two 1972 GMC pickup trucks were sold on conditional sales contracts. Each contract was assigned to the plaintiff subject to the recourse contract. The Department of Motor Vehicles issued ownership certificates for the vehicles designating each purchaser as registered…