Skip to Content (Press Enter)

Skip to Nav (Press Enter)

Effective, Experienced, Exceptional.

Firm Profile

Repossession

Subscribe to Consumer Finance

Thank you for your desire to subscribe to Severson & Werson’s Consumer Finance Weblog. In order to subscribe, you must provide a valid name and e-mail address. This too will be retained on our server. When you push the “subscribe button”, we will send an electronic mail to the address that you provided asking you to confirm your subscription to our Weblog. By pushing the “subscribe button”, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old, are the owner/authorized user of that e-mail address, and are entitled to receive e-mails at that address. Our weblog will retain your name and e-mail address on its server, or the server of its web host. However, we won’t share any of this information with anyone except the Firm’s employees and contractors, except under certain extraordinary circumstances described on our Privacy Policy and (About The Consumer Finance Blog/About the Appellate Tracker Weblog) Page. NOTICE AND AGREEMENT REGARDING E-MAILS AND CALLS/TEXT MESSAGES TO LAND-LINE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONES: By providing your contact information and confirming your subscription in response to the initial e-mail that we send you, you agree to receive e-mail messages from Severson & Werson from time-to-time and understand and agree that such messages are or may be sent by means of automated dialing technology. If you have your email forwarded to other electronic media, including text messages and cellular telephone by way of VoIP, internet, social media, or otherwise, you agree to receive my messages in that way. This may result in charges to you. Your agreement and consent also extend to any other agents, affiliates, or entities to whom our communications are forwarded. You agree that you will notify Severson & Werson in writing if you revoke this agreement and that your revocation will not be effective until you notify Severson & Werson in writing. You understand and agree that you will afford Severson & Werson a reasonable time to unsubscribe you from the website, that the ability to do so depends on Severson & Werson’s press of business and access to the weblog, and that you may still receive one or more emails or communications from weblog until we are able to unsubscribe you.

District Court (Nev.) Finds FDCPA Inapplicable to Repo Company, Finds Question of Fact as to Whether Repo Company Breached the Peace During Repossession

by Scott J. Hyman |

In  Mkhitaryan v. U.S. Bancorp, 2012 WL 6204840 (D.Nev. 2012), Judge Mahan refused to grant a Plaintiff’s summary judgment motion based on the claim that a repossession agent violated the FDCPA and ‘breached the peace’ during the course of a repossession.  As to the FDCPA, Judge Mahan found it inapplicable.   The purpose of the FDCPA includes, among other things,… Read More

Court of Appeal (Tx.) Not Convinced that Repossession was Completed so as to Avoid Liability for Breach of the Peace

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Price Auto Sales, Inc. v. Sanders, 2012 WL 3734388 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2012), the Texas Court of Appeal held that it need not decide whether the completion of a repossession was an affirmative defense to a claim that the secured party repossessed a vehicle in breach of the peace because the Court of Appeal was not convinced that the repossession was… Read More

District Court (Or.) Finds Repossessing Finance Company Owed No Duty to Debtor to Protect Debtor’s Financial Interest; Finds No Breach of Peace in Repossession of Aircraft from Locked Hangar

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Harley-Davidson Credit Corp. v. Turudic, 2012 WL 3314919 (D.Or. 2012), Harley-Davidson financed an airplane (Ed. no, not a typo).  After it repossessed the airplane, it sued on the balance.  The debtor claimed that the HDCC owed it a fiduciary duty to maximize recovery, to assist him the sale of the aircraft, and to otherwise protect his financial interest.  Judge… Read More

Court of Appeals (Az.) Finds Repossession of Vehicle, Not Internal “Charge-off”, Constituted Affirmative Act to Commence Statute of Limitations on Automobile Finance Debt

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Baseline Financial Services v. Madison, --- P.3d ----, 2012 WL 1999690 (Ariz. App. 2012), the Arizona Court of Appeals held that an automobile finance company’s internal ‘charge off’ of the obligation for non-payment did not commence the statute of limitations on the debt.  Rather, based on a survey of out-of-state cases, the Court of Appeals held that repossession is… Read More

California Proposes Legislation to Regulate ‘Buy-here; pay-here’ Car Dealers and Auto-Interrupt Devices

by Scott J. Hyman |

California state senator Tom Lieu (D-Torrance) introduced SB 956 yesterday, that would require Buy Here Pay Here car dealers to be regulated by the Department of Corporations as lenders. A companion bill (AB 1447) introduced last week by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) would require Buy Here Pay Here dealers to display vehicle sales prices and would block dealers from using GPS… Read More

Bankruptcy Court (Ky.) Finds Post-Bankruptcy Repossession of Non-Reaffirmed Vehicle Might Be Improper

by Scott J. Hyman |

In In re Baer, 2011 WL 1832490 (Bkrtcy. E.D. Ky. 2011), the bankruptcy court held that an automobile company’s repossession of a non-reaffirmed vehicle 2 weeks after an Order of Discharge could violate the automatic stay because the Plaintiff’s bankruptcy remained open. Factually, the Plaintiff's Order of Discharge was entered on October 20, 2010. The Defendant repossessed the Plaintiff's Vehicle… Read More

Court of Appeal (Az.) Finds Allows Wrongful Repossession Claim to Proceed

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Engram v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 2010 WL 3447390 (Ariz. App. 2010), the Court of Appeal in an unpublished decision reversed summary judgment granted to an automobile finance company on a consumer’s wrongful repossession claim.  The facts were recited as follows:   The Engrams bought a car in February 2005. The sales price, with tax, registration and fees, totaled $13,277.… Read More

Court of Appeal (Unpub. Ark.) Finds No Breach of the Peace in Repossession Case

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Minor v. Chase Auto Finance Corp. 2010 Ark. App. 670, 2010 WL 3902754 (Ark.App. 2010), the Court of Appeal affirmed a directed verdict in favor of an automobile finance company on the Plaintiff’s claim of breach of the peace during a repossession, explaining:   Minor's first remaining argument is that he produced substantial evidence of wrongful repossession, conversion, and… Read More

1 2