Industrial Credit Co. v. Inland G. M. Diesel, Inc. (1971)

The complete opinion was retrieved on October 17, 2026 from the Caselaw Access Project’s Wisconsin Reports copy, an unofficial host. Decided June 2, 1971, No. 313; opinion by Heffernan, J.

Source note (2026-10-18):

• Links on this page to https://static.case.law/wis-2d/51/cases/0520-01.json are an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.

Facts

Inland repaired a truck for Horton despite knowing his financial difficulties. Industrial Credit held an earlier perfected security interest and did not request or knowingly acquiesce in the repairs. After Horton’s bankruptcy the collateral was insufficient to satisfy the lender, and the garage sought unjust enrichment against the lender for repair value beyond the statutory priority allowance.

Holding and reasoning

Judgment rejecting the garage’s claim affirmed. The statutory repair-lien scheme protected the repairer by permitting it to obtain the lender’s express consent before doing work beyond the allowance. The repairer could not avoid that scheme by seeking unjust enrichment against an innocent perfected lender. The court did not decide the broader question whether the lender’s knowledge of the benefit must always be contemporaneous with performance; it resolved the case on the statutory-remedy ground.

Practical limits

The historical allowance was USD 1,000. That amount is not current Wisconsin law: the present § 779.41 has asset classes and annual adjustments. The decision establishes a repairer-versus-lender equitable-remedy limit, not a purchaser clean-title holding or a rule that every defective lien sale is void.

Good-law status

Historical holding verified against the complete opinion. Current statutory annotation was inspected, but comprehensive later treatment was not established; needs_verification is retained separately from the case-list requirement.

Rechecked 2026-10-18 (CourtListener citation search; results retained in schema/verification/wisconsin-evidence-2026-10-18/): Buckett v. Jante, 2009 WI App 55 (read in full from the Caselaw Access Project static copy, an unofficial host), cites it only on unjust enrichment, noting that it “suggested, but did not ultimately conclude” whether knowledge of the benefit must be contemporaneous; the 1977 and 1978 citing decisions were identified but not read. No negative treatment of the priority-cap holding located. The § 779.41 allowance is now indexed (USD 3,050 general for work from January 1, 2026). Not a commercial citator check.

Applies in

wisconsin · towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against current primary sources before acting.