Section 1.16 Purchase Price Judgments and Liens—Vendor's Liens, Reclamation, and Equitable Liens

• Library: Creditors' Remedies (2009 Ed. + 2014 Supp)

VI. (§1.16) Purchase Price Judgments and Liens—Vendor's Liens, Reclamation, and Equitable Liens

In addition to the liens of the judgment, the vendor of real estate has an implied lien on the property sold for the amount of the purchase price. Bragg v. Ross, 162 S.W.2d 263 (Mo. 1942). Under the law before the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), for a vendor of personal property to obtain a vendor's lien, it would be necessary for the vendor to retain possession of the property, Conrad v. Fisher, 37 Mo. App. 352 (E.D. 1889), or the vendor could perhaps invoke an equitable lien after a default in a conditional sales agreement, Gen. Excavator Co. v. Emory, 40 S.W.2d 490 (Mo. App. E.D. 1931). With the passage of the UCC, the rights of the unsecured, as well as the secured, seller in Missouri have been substantially altered.

Section 400.2-702, RSMo 2000, gives the seller the right to reclaim property sold on credit, if demand is made within the limited period set forth in that section, as well as the right to refuse or stop delivery. But § 400.2-702(3) provides that the seller's right to reclaim is subject to the rights of an intervening lien creditor. Concern about In re Kravitz, 278 F.2d 820 (3^rd Cir. 1960), led several states, including Illinois, to eliminate the provision protecting the "lien creditor" from Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) § 2-702(3), 1 U.L.A. 7, p. 522 (2004). See 810 ILL. COMP. STAT. ANN. 5/2-702(3) (Westlaw through 2009). To this extent, at least, the laws of Illinois and Missouri are different. Under the Missouri version of § 2-702, the rights of...