National Bank Windham v. Milroy Chevrolet

Appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff following a trial without a jury. In July, 1963 the plaintiff bank loaned
an automobile dealer $3,000 as evidenced by a note which was secured by a chattel mortgage on two automobiles. In early October
the plaintiff and the automobile dealer mutually agreed to substitute the automobile here in question -- a Chevrolet Corvette
Stingray -- for the existing security and a duly executed chattel mortgage was thereupon filed in the Town Clerk's office
on October 17, which is not in issue. On October 21 the automobile dealer, apparently being in serious financial difficulty,
and at the request of the defendant, conveyed the said automobile to it with the admonition that "all I [automobile dealer]
had was a little equity in this car". The automobile dealer thereafter defaulted on the payment of the loan to the plaintiff
and the present action was commenced to secure the return of the said automobile, or in the alternative, its value. The defendant
at the trial contended that at the time of the giving of the chattel mortgage to the plaintiff, the automobile dealer did
not own the same, having signed a motor vehicle form stating that the automobile was sold to one Gormley, which knowledge
the defendant did not possess at the time of its taking title. The defendant had a search made at the Town Clerk's office
on October 19, and was advised that there were no liens on file. The motor vehicle form allegedly conveying the said automobile
from the dealer to Gormley constituted some evidence of a transfer of ownership. However, the said dealer's uncontradicted
testimony at the trial refuted such evidence and the court could and did very properly find that the plaintiff had acquired
a valid lien on the said automobile prior to any claim on the part of the defendant. Disposition Judgment affirmed, with costs.