Fixtures & Chattels

Map Branches

• LaSalle 1969, BC CA
  • Facts & Issues
    • Carpet installed in hotel; now bankrupt
    • Was a "conditional sale"
    • Hotel financed with mortgage
    • Statutes set out priority of secured creditors
    • Which creditor gets the carpet?
      • Is it a "fixture"?
  • McFarlane J.A.
    • Degree
      • Slightly affixed by nails & staples
      • Presumed a fixture
    • Object
      • Factors
        • Plywood floors unsuitable
        • Carpet can't be loose
        • Floors need carpet
        • Replaced regularly
        • Used carpet market
  • Drafting Exercise
    • Draft a contract to sell this room, without chattels
    • Techniques
      • List specific inventories
      • Provide custom definitions
      • Use standard legal terms
• Diamond Neon 1976, BC CA
  • Facts & Issues
    • Signs
      • Hanging from pole in concrete
      • Firmly attached to shack
    • Diamond leased signs to Uptown
      • Contract: "not a fixture"
    • W.C.P. leased land to Uptown
    • Uptown assigned land lease to Dueck
    • Diamond leased signs to Dueck
    • W.C.P. land lease to Dueck expired; sold land to T.D. Realty
    • T.D. Realty sold signs to Nettie Holdings
    • Diamond sued T.D. Realty for converstion
      • Who owned signs?
  • Robertson J.A. (majority)
    • Diamond's contracts with Uptown & Dueck don't matter
    • Degree/object show signs are fixtures
    • T.D. Realty bought fixtures with land; no conversion
  • Carrothers J.A. (dissenting)
    • Signs are unique (e.g. street address v. name plate)
    • Purchaser should've know these were chattels
  • Q: When did Diamond lose title?
    • A. When T.D. Realty sold the signs
    • B. When T.D. Realty detached the signs
    • C. When W.C.P. sold the land to T.D. Realty
    • D. When Dueck's lease of land expired
    • E. When Dueck's lease of sign expired
    • Clue: Doctrine of "tenants' fixtures"

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