Paris American Corp. v. McCausland (1988)
Citation: 52 Wn. App. 434, 759 P.2d 1210 · Court: Washington Court of
Appeals. The reproduced opinion records denial of further reconsideration after
modification on September 6, 1988, and denial of review on January 10, 1989;
the original decision date remains needs_verification.
Full opinion, unofficial OpenJurist reproduction.
Facts
Paris supplied tanning equipment to a tenant and held a perfected security interest. The landlords claimed a statutory rent lien and retained the equipment after the tenant left. Their December letter contemplated a later sale without fixing its time or method. Formal sale notice followed in April 1986. The trial court gave the landlords summary judgment against the secured creditor. Opinion, facts and lien discussion.
Holding
The landlords’ initially superior lien expired because foreclosure was not timely commenced. Possession and the indefinite letter did not commence summary foreclosure. The court reversed and directed judgment for Paris, with damages for conversion to be determined on remand. Opinion, foreclosure and disposition.
Reasoning
The landlord-lien statute limited continuation after possession; commencement of statutory foreclosure, not merely retention, was required. With the lien expired, the landlords could not justify withholding the secured creditor’s collateral. Good faith was not a defense to conversion. Opinion, statutory analysis and conversion.
Practical impact
An owner, secured creditor or prospective buyer should check lien survival and actual foreclosure notices, not accept possession as proof of continuing priority. This decision does not establish that every lien auction clears a senior lender or that a purchaser automatically obtains clean title. Current chapter 60.10 expressly preserves superior interests, while chapter 60.72 contains property-specific landlord-lien rules. RCW 60.10.040, full chapter; chapter 60.72.
Good-law status
needs_verification: the full reproduced opinion was retrieved, not a citator
report. Comprehensive subsequent treatment and current precedential status are
unverified. Historical Article 9 citations must not be substituted for today’s
chapter 62A.9A. Current statutory provisions were separately retrieved; that
comparison is not a complete good-law determination.
The full official opinion in Merry v. Quality Loan Service Corp., No. 32603-9-III
(August 25, 2015), expressly uses Paris American’s creditor-standing reasoning.
Merry is unpublished, concerns a mortgage dispute, and does not newly decide
the chattel-sale notice/expiration holding. This supplies a specific later use,
not comprehensive favorable treatment or a still_good designation.
Full official Merry opinion.
The later published Peyton Building, LLC v. Niko’s Gourmet, Inc., No. 30840-5-III (April 24, 2014), expressly cites Paris American at pages 443–444 for the conversion consequences of retained tenant property/surplus. Its pages 12–14 also distinguish actual voluntary surrender as rent payment: that landlord could enjoy the lien’s benefits without initiating foreclosure, but still had to account for surplus; disputed value required remand. That different factual exception prevents converting Paris American into a rule requiring an auction after every genuinely agreed surrender. It does not make an owner’s surrender a release by an unrelated secured creditor. Full published Peyton court PDF, pp. 12–15.
Independent retrieval note, 2026-10-17: the full OpenJurist opinion remained readable through the ordinary web reader although a separate direct request returned HTTP 403. The latter does not invalidate the successful full retrieval. OpenJurist’s automated good-law badge is not adopted here.
Applies in →
washington · businesses-and-going-concerns
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify current law and subsequent treatment before relying on this decision.