Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Susan Beecher: No Title on Equipment

Heavy equipment is not registered and has no title of any kind.

The guy got the loan from us and I saw that he had had HIS name put on the reciept.

Then he bought more equipment, a small boat, a 2009 limited ed. ford mustang, and a new truck.

The agreement we had him sign listed the serial # of excavator but he took care to keep machine hidden. We found out later he has been sued various times for failing to pay back large loans, failing to pay for shingles for his girlfriend's house, and apparently bankrupted his father.

He agreed to pay the loan back in full in 2 years' time with interest. We took the interest in the form of a small excavator at the time the loan was made.

Just really wanted you to know there are no titles on heavy equipment.


Asked on 5/13/09, 8:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: Susan Beecher: No Title on Equipment

Gosh, I don't often get called out by name on these lawguru postings. Since I did this time, guess I better answer.

There may not be a title in the sense that a motor vehicle has a title, but you can attach title to anything (even ever changing property, such as inventory) with a UCC filing. This is something you should always do when you make a large loan against collateral. If you did that, you may also have recourse against the buyer of the excavator, unless the borrower regularly sold excavators in the ordinary course of business.

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Answered on 5/14/09, 12:15 am


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