First Trust and Savings Bank of Moville v. Guthridge
Iowa Court of Appeals
445 N.W.2d 401 (1989)
Bernice Guthridge (defendant) owned a life estate in a farm; her son Larry, who held the remainder interest, operated the farm as her tenant and took a loan from First Trust and Savings Bank of Moville (plaintiff) to buy feed bunks, giving the Bank a security interest in them. Larry attached the large, heavy feed bunks to the land with steel cables and posts, and they doubled as part of the property's boundary fence. When Larry later transferred his remainder interest to Bernice by quitclaim deed, the Bank sought to repossess the feed bunks through a replevin action; Bernice argued the feed bunks were fixtures that had become her property upon the transfer. The trial court disagreed and ruled for the Bank, and Bernice appealed.
Whether personal property becomes a fixture when it is annexed to the realty, it is put to the same use as the realty, and the owner intends the annexation to be permanent.