Giant Wholesale agreed to supply Hendersonville Food Center with groceries if the owner, Wi l liam Page, would guarantee all debts incurred by Hendersonville. Page agreed, and a security agreement was drawn up.
The security agreement gave Giant a security interest in Hendersonville's groceries and equipment. Giant failed to file a financing statement properly. When Hendersonville ran into financial difficulty, Page turned over the checking account to Giant. When this maneuver did not work, Giant repossessed all of Hendersonville's inventory.
Page later went bankrupt. Gray, the bankruptcy trustee, brought a suit against Giant, claiming that the inventory was part of Page's property and thus subject to the bankruptcy proceeding.
Gray argued that because the financing statement had not been filed, Giant's security interest had not been per fected. Was Gray correct? Explain.
Gray v. Giant Wholesale, 758 F.2d 1000 (4th Cir.)