## Facts

- Yalonda Anthony owned a titled minivan.
- Dover Federal Credit Union (Credit Union) made a loan to Anthony and held a valid lien on the minivan secured by the minivan’s title.
- Anthony placed the minivan in a self-storage unit owned and operated by Anthony Liberto, doing business as Liberto Mini-Storage (Liberto), and executed a rental agreement for the unit.
- Liberto claimed a lien on the minivan based on the rental agreement and applicable self-storage lien law.
- Anthony defaulted on both the loan obligations owed to Credit Union and the storage-rent obligations owed to Liberto.
- Credit Union filed an action in replevin against Liberto seeking possession of the minivan.
- Liberto counterclaimed, demanding that his storage lien be paid in full before he would release the minivan to Credit Union.
- The dispute turned on which lien had priority and whether Credit Union could obtain possession without first paying Liberto’s storage charges.

## Issues

1. As between a lien secured by a motor vehicle’s title and a self-service storage facility lien claimed for unpaid storage rent, which lien has priority under Delaware law?
2. If the Credit Union’s lien has priority, is the Credit Union entitled to possession of the minivan in replevin notwithstanding Liberto’s demand for payment of storage charges first?

## Decision

- The court ruled in favor of Dover Federal Credit Union.
- The court determined that the Credit Union’s lien secured by the minivan’s title had priority over Liberto’s self-storage lien.
- The court granted relief permitting the Credit Union to recover possession of the minivan through replevin.
- Liberto was not entitled to keep the minivan from the Credit Union as a means to force payment of the storage charges ahead of the Credit Union’s superior lien.

## Legal Principles

- A self-service storage operator may obtain a statutory lien on stored personal property to secure payment of rent and related charges when the statutory conditions for the lien are met.
- Delaware’s self-service storage lien statute (including its priority provisions and exceptions) governs the relationship between a storage lien and other security interests.
- Where the legislature has created an express priority exception for motor vehicles subject to title-based liens, that exception controls the lien-ranking analysis.
- Replevin is a proper remedy for a secured creditor to recover possession of collateral from a party wrongfully withholding it when the secured creditor has the better right to immediate possession.

## Conclusion

In *Dover Fed. Credit Union v. Liberto*, the Delaware Court of Common Pleas resolved a lien-priority dispute between a credit union holding a title-secured lien on a minivan and a self-storage operator asserting a storage lien for unpaid rent, holding that the title-based lien had priority and that the credit union could recover the vehicle in replevin without first satisfying the storage charges.


Dover Fed. Credit Union v. Liberto, 2003 WL 21232405 (2003)