Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-635

Opinion No. 635 l\lotOI' Vehicles-l\Iotor Number -Chattel l\Iortgage--Con- ditional Sales Contract. HELD: Chapter 159, Laws of 1933, does not require that the motor number be included in the description of the motor vehicle described in a chattel mortgage or conditional sales contract; hence the Registrar of Motor Vehicles may not require it. Octo her :W, 11)34. A mortgagee of a motor vehicle, holding a mortgage on a motor vehicle described as follows: "1928 Dodge Brougham, 1934 license No. 16-1119" lias submitted to you a certified copy of the chattel mortgage and asked you to file the same. No proof has been submitted that. the license numher de- scribed was issued for the motor ve- hicle covered by the mortgage. It is doubtful if this chattel mortgage would be notice to subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers. You have submitted the following: "The point, as we see it, is, are we compelled to accept conditional sales contracts or chattel mortgages for filing without the motor number being supplied? All the reeords in this office depend entirely upon the description of the car, and the descrip- tion of the car is the motor number. If we file indiscriminately these chat- tel mortgages or conditional sales con- tracts and a transfer was applied for, giving the correct description of the car, there would be nothing what- ever in our records to indicate that a chattel mortgage or a conditional sales contract existed." Since the statute (Chap. 159, Laws of 1933) does not require that the motor number be included in the description of the motor vehicle described in a chattel mortgage or conditional sales contract, you may not require it. If, however, a mortgagee chooses to take a chattel mortgage or conditional sales contract on a motor vehicle with- out adequate description and you are not able to connect it with the motor vehicle registered, it would probably not protect him against subsequent pur- chasers and encumbrancers. It is my opinion, however, that you should ac- OPI~IONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 439 cept it for what it is worth and if it is not sufficient to protect the mort- gagee it is his loss, not yours.