Ex-Cell-O Corp. v. Lincor Properties (1988)
Citation: 158 Ariz. 307, 762 P.2d 594 · Court: Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two · Decided: April 29, 1988.
Facts
A commercial tenant’s equipment financier perfected its security interest before the equipment reached the leased premises, although the tenancy had begun earlier. After rent default, the landlord seized the equipment. The financier obtained it by replevin and the parties litigated priority on cross-motions for summary judgment.
Holding
The perfected security interest prevailed. A landlord’s lien attached when the goods were brought onto the premises, not when the lease was signed. Perfection before the goods arrived therefore mattered; the landlord could not claim priority merely because the lease or occupancy predated the financing.
Reasoning
The statutory landlord lien and commercial-code exclusion had to be considered with the actual attachment chronology. The court affirmed judgment for the financier. The decision did not involve a completed auction or decide whether a purchaser at a landlord sale takes free of all junior interests.
Practical impact
- For commercial-landlord sales, reconstruct delivery and perfection dates rather than treat tenancy commencement as automatic priority over later-acquired equipment.
- Do not export this holding to residential distress or consensual Article 9 security without checking the different statutes.
- Current § 33-361(D) adds a sixty-day post-seizure wait before its § 33-1023 sale procedure; the priority holding is not a waiver of that wait.
Good-law status
Full opinion independently read. Its former § 47-9104(2) citation is historical; current § 47-9109(D)(1)–(2) separately addresses landlord/statutory liens and agricultural-lien/possessory-priority exceptions. Current § 33-362 was also retrieved. This text comparison does not establish comprehensive subsequent treatment; needs_verification remains. No blanket free-and-clear purchaser holding is attributed to the case.
Applies in →
arizona · equipment-and-machinery · ucc-article-9-dispositions
Sources
- {case, https://openjurist.org/158/ariz/307/ex-cell-o-corp-v-lincor-properties, retrieved 2026-10-17} — complete court-authored opinion on a nonofficial mirror, including final priority analysis.
- {statute, https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/00361.htm, retrieved 2026-10-17}; {statute, https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/00362.htm, retrieved 2026-10-17}; {statute, https://www.azleg.gov/ars/47/09109.htm, retrieved 2026-10-17} — full posted current texts through web retrieval.
This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. Verify the holding and its current treatment against the primary source and consult a licensed Arizona attorney before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-17.