West v. Roberts

West (plaintiff) sold his Corvette to a buyer who paid with a fake cashier's check and disappeared; two years later West located the car in the hands of good-faith subsequent purchaser Roberts (defendant) and sued to recover it under Colorado's stolen-property statute. The trial court instead applied UCC section 2-403, found Roberts a good-faith purchaser entitled to keep the car, and the court of appeals affirmed; West, not disputing Roberts's good faith, argued only that the stolen-property statute rather than the UCC should govern.

Whether, under UCC section 2-403, a person who obtains property through fraud acquires only voidable title, which nonetheless empowers that person to transfer good title to a subsequent good-faith purchaser for value.