Opinion
43483.
SUBMITTED MARCH 5, 1968.
DECIDED APRIL 5, 1968.
Foreclosure. Fulton Civil Court. Before Judge Langford.
E. B. Judge, for appellant.
Wilkinson, Nance Head, A. Mims Wilkinson, Jr., H. G. Head, Jr., for appellee.
When a vehicle is subject to a security interest when brought into Georgia, and the name of the holder of the security interest is shown on an existing certificate of title issued by the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the security interest attached, the security interest continues perfected in Georgia and is valid against subsequent transferees of the vehicle. Code Ann. § 68-421a (a), and (d) (2) (A).
SUBMITTED MARCH 5, 1968 — DECIDED APRIL 5, 1968.
After the plaintiff finance company began proceedings for foreclosure under a conditional sale contract retaining title of a 1960 Cadillac, Kinder filed a claim alleging that the automobile was his property. The finance company made a motion for summary judgment submitting an affidavit showing that it was the holder of the contract by purchase from a Texas automobile dealer; that the obligor on the contract, Hendrix, was in default in the payments required and the finance company had declared the unpaid balance due in accordance with the terms of the contract, and had discovered that Hendrix had sold the Cadillac to Sears Motors, a dealer in East Point, Georgia, which in turn sold it to the claimant. The movant presented a copy of a 1966 Texas Certificate of Title to a Motor Vehicle showing Hendrix as the owner of the Cadillac, the Texas dealer as previous owner, and that the motor vehicle is subject to the lien of General Motors Acceptance Corporation.
The claimant's response to the motion showed that Hendrix sold the automobile to Sears Motors on October 27, 1966, and Sears Motors sold it to the claimant on November 10, 1966. The proprietor of Sears Motors stated that the records of Fulton County and DeKalb County did not reveal the recording of the finance company's conditional sale contract with Hendrix and the records of the State of Georgia did not reveal a recording after the transfer of the automobile to this State by Hendrix; and that when he purchased the Cadillac it had a Georgia tag on it, which was listed in Hendrix' name. The trial court sustained the motion for summary judgment.
The evidence before the trial court showed that the vehicle was brought into Georgia on or before October 27, 1966; that it was subject to a security interest when brought into the State; and that the name of the finance company as the holder of a security interest is shown on an existing certificate of title issued by the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the security interest attached. Because of these facts, under the Georgia Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title Act (Ga. L. 1961, p. 68, as amended Code Ann. § 68-421a (a), and (d) (2) (A)), the finance company's security interest perfected in Texas continued perfected in Georgia, and is valid against subsequent transferees. See Capital Automobile Co. v. Continental Credit Corp., 117 Ga. App. 451. The subsection of the Act relied upon by the claimant ( Code Ann. § 68-421a (d) (2) (B)) applies "if the name of the holder of a security interest . . . is not shown on an existing certificate of title" of the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the security interest attached, but does not apply in this case. In these circumstances the claimant's objection to the competency of the evidence presented respecting the absence of recordings in Georgia is irrelevant, and it does not appear that this objection was made in the trial court.
Judgment affirmed. Bell, P. J., and Quillian, J., concur.