1. How did Magish manage to get a clean title?

2. Was this a sale in the ordinary course of business? Why or why not?

3. What advice would you give to someone buying a vehicle through Craigslist?

In May 2006, Jacob J. Magish agreed to purchase a certain 2001 Harley-Davidson Motorcycle from Christine and Larry Logsdon for $14,635. Magish took out a loan at a Fifth Third Bank branch in Indianapolis with a security interest in the Motorcycle favor of Fifth Third in order to borrow $15,000 for the purchase. Magish presented to Fifth Third the Logsdons’ original certificate of title. As part of the transaction, Magish executed, among other documents, an Application for Certificate of Title and a Power of Attorney. Fifth Third’s Closing Representative, John Wargel, copied the Logsdon Original Title and then gave the Logsdon Original Title back to Magish. Wargel instructed Magish to apply for a new title at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (“BMV”). Wargel kept the May 31 application and the Magish file in the loan file.

Shortly after the transaction, Magish, using deception, approached the Logsdons and requested that they sign paperwork to obtain a duplicate title. The Logsdons, who had no knowledge that Magish had financed the purchase of the Motorcycle through Fifth Third, unwittingly signed an application to obtain a duplicate title and gave the application to Magish.

Magish obtained a duplicate title from the BMV in the name of the Logsdons. The Logsdons signed the Logsdon Duplicate Title as Sellers. The Logsdon Duplicate Title inactivated the Logsdon Original Title in the BMV records. Magish, using the Logsdon Duplicate Title, submitted an application to the BMV for a new title in his name. Magish intentionally omitted Fifth Third from the June 20 application and did not list a lienholder. Magish concurrently tendered the Logsdon Duplicate Title to the BMV and failed to notate Fifth Third as lienholder. On June 28, 2006, the BMV issued a new title in Magish’s name. There was no lien notated on the First Magish Title.

On October 16, 2006, Fifth Third submitted an application for an amended title to the BMV ... Fifth Third did not have the Logsdon Original Title nor the First Magish Title in its possession and so did not tender to the BMV either with the Fifth Third application.

On October 18, 2006, the BMV issued a new title listing Magish as owner and Fifth Third as lienholder. The Second Magish Title inactivated the First Magish Title in the BMV records. The whereabouts of the Second Magish Title are unknown and Fifth Third has no record of receiving it. In 2009, the Dawsons responded to a Magish posting on Craigslist for the sale of the Motorcycle. On June 18, 2009, Magish sold and delivered the Motorcycle to the Dawsons for $13,050.00. Magish, who was terminally ill and died in August 2009, had defaulted on the loan in 2008. Magish gave the Dawsons the certificate of title that showed it was free of any lienholders. After the sale, the Dawsons submitted an application for a new title to the Motorcycle to the BMV. The BMV advised the Dawsons that, according to the BMV records, the title the Dawsons had was not the most current title. For privacy reasons the BMV would not tell the Dawsons exactly what the issue was but said it was either there was a duplicate title or a lienholder on the title. After discussions with Magish and his wife, the Dawsons determined that Fifth Third was a lienholder. The BMV refused to issue a new title to the Motorcycle to the Dawsons.

The Dawsons filed suit against Fifth Third, arguing that Fifth Third’s lien against the Motorcycle should be unenforceable because, under a theory of equitable estoppel, Fifth Third should bear the loss of Magish’s fraud on the Dawsons because Fifth Third’s acts and omissions made the loss possible. Fifth Third filed a counterclaim, seeking replevin of the Motorcycle.

The trial court denied the Dawsons’ summary judgment motion, granted Fifth Third’s summary judgment motion, awarded permanent possession of the Motorcycle to Fifth Third, and ordered that the Dawsons maintain possession of the Motorcycle pending their appeal. ……………..