Problem.Certificate of title
A modern day Harold Hill drove to River City, Iowa in his Jeep
Cherokee Sports Utility Vehicle, purchased with a loan from the Pugent (Big Band) Sound
Credit Union in Oregon. The credit union holds the certificate of title to the
vehicle issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles of the State of Oregon, and the
certicate of title notes the credit union's security interest in the vehicle.
Harold decided that he wanted to move to Vienna, where he could
take in daily concerts in the park. To fund his move, he decided to sell his SUV to
Marian Paroo, the River City librarian, without paying off the balance of the loan to the
Pugent Sound Credit Union. To accomplish this, he needed, of course, to convince
Marian that he owned the SUV free and clear of any liens. Thus, he went to the Iowa
Department of Motor Vehicles and falsely completed a form under penalty of perjury stating
that he had lost his certificate of title, that he was the owner of the SUV and that no
other persons held any interest in the SUV, and requesting issuance by the Iowa Department
of Motor Vehicles of a clean duplicate certificate of title. (As noted in Official
Comment 4 to former U.C.C. 9-103: "[v]arious fraudulent devices based on
allegations of loss of the certificate of title enable a dishonest person to obtain both
an original and a duplicate of title; to have a security interest shown on only one
thereof; and then to effect a transfer into a new state on the basis of the clean
certificate, no matter how diligent the officers in the second state may be.")
After getting the clean duplicate certificate of title, he sold the SUV to Marian and left
for Vienna. Marian financed her purchase of the SUV with a loan from the
Save-a-Little, Spend-a-Little Credit Union in Iowa, which took Harold's clean duplicate
certificate of title and with it procured from the Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles
issuance of a new certificate of title reflecting its security interest.
Upon leaving for Vienna, Harold stopped sending payments to the Pugent Sound Credit Union. A few months later it traced the SUV to River City and figured out Harold's scheme through discussions with Marian and the Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles. It called you, a local attorney, and said: "We've got trouble, terrible, terrible trouble." What do you advise? U.C.C. 9-311, U.C.C. 9-316(d), (e), U.C.C. 1-201(32), (33), U.C.C. 9-313(b), U.C.C. 9-337.