National Bank of Joliet v. Bergeron Cadillac, Inc. (1977)
Citation: 66 Ill. 2d 140 · Court: Supreme Court of Illinois (opinion by Chief Justice Ward) · Decided: March 23, 1977. Text retrieved from the Caselaw Access Project static file (Harvard Law School Library digitization of the official reporter).
Source note (2026-10-18):
- Links on this page to
https://static.case.law/ill-2d/66/cases/0140-01.jsonare 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
The bank lent Gladys Schmidt USD 4,120 to buy a 1971 Cadillac and perfected its security interest by filing with the Secretary of State under the Vehicle Code’s title-perfection section. Schmidt took the car to Bergeron Cadillac for about USD 2,000 of repairs and did not pay. Bergeron kept the car under its lien. After Schmidt defaulted on the loan, the bank demanded the car and, when refused, sued in replevin. The trial court and the appellate court (38 Ill. App. 3d 598) ruled for Bergeron.
Holding
The repairer’s common-law possessory (artisan’s) lien for services and materials had priority over the bank’s earlier perfected security interest under section 9-310 of the Uniform Commercial Code. The court rejected the argument that the two Illinois statutes creating repairmen’s liens on personal property (now the Labor and Storage Lien Act, 770 ILCS 45, and the Small Amount Act, 770 ILCS 50) had superseded the common-law lien, because both statutes say their liens are “in addition to, and shall not exclude,” common-law liens. Affirmed.
Reasoning
Former § 9-310 gave a possessory lien for services or materials priority over a perfected security interest “unless the lien is statutory and the statute expressly provides otherwise.” A common-law lien is not statutory, so the exception could not apply. The artisan’s lien had long been recognized in Illinois.
Practical impact
- Buyers / lenders: a repair shop holding a vehicle can lawfully refuse a secured lender’s demand until its repair charges are paid; the lender’s perfected title lien does not override that.
- Limits: the common-law lien is a right to retain, not to sell, and it does not cover storage fees (navistar-financial-v-allens-corner-garage-1987; ally-financial-v-pira-2017). A sale requires one of the statutory lien Acts (see illinois module 12.3).
Good-law status
Still good law on the retrieved record: in 2017 the Second District held that because current
810 ILCS 5/9-333 “tracks” former § 9-310, “our supreme court’s holding in Bergeron Cadillac remains
applicable” (ally-financial-v-pira-2017, ¶ 41). A full citator check was not run —
needs_verification.
Second verification pass (2026-10-16): citation, court, date, parties and holding re-checked against the opinion text at the source_url. No citator was available (CourtListener quota exhausted; a web search found no list of citing decisions) — citator not checked.
Applies in →
illinois · towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales · motor-vehicles
Disclaimer: This page is legal information, not legal advice. Verify the cited opinion and current law and consult a licensed Illinois attorney before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-18.