Duke v. Garcia
United States District Court for the District of New Mexico
2014 WL 1318646 (2014)
Relevant factsFree
After Tiar Duke (plaintiff) defaulted on her car loan, the secured party hired repo agents Gustavo Soto and Jerome Baca (defendants), who entered Duke's property to repossess the car. Duke confronted them, a verbal and physical altercation followed, and Duke repeatedly told them to leave and called 911; police arrived and facilitated the repossession anyway. Duke sued Soto and his company for trespass and for violating state repossession law by continuing after a breach of the peace occurred.
IssueFree
Whether a secured party's right to self-help repossession of collateral terminates once a breach of the peace occurs.