Williams v. Ford Motor Credit Company

Facts

David Williams, Cathy Williams’ (“Plaintiff”) husband, purchased a car from a dealer. Both, Plaintiff and David, obtained titled to the car, but solely David’s name was listed on the loan papers. Thereafter, the car loan was assigned to the Ford Motor Credit Company (“Defendant”). Later, David and Plaintiff were divorced. Under the divorce court’s order, Plaintiff obtained full title to the car, but David was still mandated to pay Defendant for the car. David defaulted on the payments and signed a repossession authorization. At about 4:30 a.m., Plaintiff was woken up by a noise outside of her residence. At that moment, Plaintiff found two men in the process of towing her car. Plaintiff began to yell at the tow truck, and the truck stopped. One of the men in the truck told Plaintiff that Defendant told him tore possess the car. Plaintiff told the man that she had personal items inside the car. The man went to the car, obtained Plaintiff’s items, gave them to her, and left with the car.Plaintiff reported the car stolen to the police and brought suit against Defendant for conversion. At trial, Plaintiff testified that the tow truck driver was polite the entire time and did not threaten or make her believe she would be physically injured. At the end of the trial, the jury granted Plaintiff $5,000 in damages on the grounds that the repossession was a result of unlawful “breach of the peace,” violating Arkansas Statute § 85-9-503. Under the statute, which codifies Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, one is allowed to secure party to repossess its property without judicial process only if the repossession occurs in a manner that does not breach of the peace. The district court entered judgment for Defendant notwithstanding the verdict. Plaintiff appealed on the grounds that the repossession took place in an unlawful manner because the method had a risk of violence.