SECTIONS 57401-57414 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 57401-57414

57401. (a) The definitions in this section govern the construction
of this chapter.
(b) "Feed or materials" means commercial feed, grain, forage, feed
ingredients, mineral feed, drugs, animal health products,
customer-formula feed, any mixture or preparation for feeding
animals, any of the constituent nutrients of an animal ration, or any
other food which is used for the feeding of dairy cattle.
(c) "Proceeds" means funds derived from the sale of milk or milk
products which are payable to the lien debtor by the possessor of the
funds, except for any of the following:
(1) Deductions for taxes, fees, and assessments.
(2) Funds due or owing milk processing cooperative associations
organized and operating pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 54001).
(3) Funds retained by the cooperative association.
(4) Deductions made pursuant to a court order.
(5) Deductions due or owing the buyer of the milk for hauling
services provided by the buyer pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section
62096 and deductions due or owing the buyer for the testing of milk
for purposes of payment pursuant to Section 34231.
(d) "Raising or maintaining of dairy cattle" means feeding,
pasturing, caring for, and managing dairy cattle kept or raised for
use or profit.
(e) "Reasonable or agreed charges" means the agreed price, if any,
for the feed and materials sold to the lien debtor, at the lien
debtor's request. If there is no agreed price or a method for
determining price which is agreed upon, "reasonable or agreed charges"
means the reasonable value of the feed or materials as of the date
of delivery.

57402. A person who provides feed or materials to aid the raising
or maintaining of dairy cattle has a lien upon the proceeds of the
milk or milk products produced from the dairy cattle, for the
reasonable or agreed charges for the feed or materials provided and
for the costs of enforcing the lien. However, the amount of charges
secured by the lien cannot exceed an amount equal to the reasonable
or agreed charges for feed or material provided within a 45-day
period, and only two providers of feed or materials shall have an
enforceable lien at any time according to the priority set forth in
Section 57406.

57403. (a) The lien created pursuant to this chapter attaches to
proceeds.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the notice of
claim of lien shall remain in effect, and no new notice of claim of
lien shall be required in order to maintain the lien, as long as the
person who provides feed or materials either (1) remains unpaid for
amounts secured by the lien, or (2) continues to provide feed or
materials on a regular basis to the lien debtor. For purposes of this
section, providing feed or materials shall not be deemed to be made
on a regular basis if a period of more than 30 days elapses between
deliveries.

57405. The lien created by this chapter shall be perfected and
shall be effective upon the filing of a notice of claim of lien with
the Secretary of State pursuant to all the provisions of this
section.
(a) The person who provides feed or materials may, at any time,
file in the manner and at the place set forth in this section, the
notice of claim of lien.
(b) The notice of claim of lien shall, at a minimum, set forth all
of the following information:
(1) The name and address of the lien claimant.
(2) The name and address of the lien debtor.
(3) The location of the dairy to which the feed and materials were
provided.
(4) That the lien claimant has a dairy cattle supply lien pursuant
to Section 57402.
(c) The notice of claim of lien shall be signed by the lien
claimant or by a person authorized to sign documents of a similar
kind on behalf of the claimant.
(d) The notice of claim of lien shall be filed on a form which is
the standard form of original financing statement prescribed by the
Secretary of State pursuant to Section 9521 of the Commercial Code.
The standard form shall be completed with the following changes:
(1) The lien claimant may be identified either as lien claimant or
as secured party.
(2) The form shall be signed by the lien claimant and need not be
signed by the debtor.
(3) In the space for the description of the collateral there shall
instead be entered the statement substantially as set forth in
paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (b).
(e) The notice of claim of lien shall be filed, indexed, and
marked in the office of the Secretary of State in the same manner as
a financing statement is filed, indexed, and marked pursuant to
Section 9519 of the Commercial Code.
(f) The lien claimant shall provide written notice of the claim of
lien to the lien debtor within 10 days of the date of the filing
with the office of the Secretary of State.
(g) For the purpose of the Secretary of State's index pursuant to
Sections 9515, 9516, and 9522 of the Commercial Code and for the
purpose of the issuance of a certificate pursuant to Section 9519 or
9528 of the Commercial Code, the Secretary of State shall identify a
notice pursuant to this section as a financing statement.

57406. (a) The lien created by this chapter shall have priority in
accordance with the time the notice of claim of lien is filed.
(b) The lien created by this chapter shall have the same priority
as a security interest perfected by the filing of a financing
statement as of the date the notice of claim of lien was filed.

57407. Except to the extent specifically set forth in this chapter,
the lien created by this chapter shall be subject to Division 9
(commencing with Section 9101) of the Commercial Code.

57408. A member of the public may obtain a certificate identifying
whether there is a lien on file and any notice of claim of lien
naming a particular debtor, and if so, giving the date and time of
filing of each notice, and the names and addresses of each lienholder
therein. The fee for the certificate is the same as the fee for a
certificate issued pursuant to Section 9525 of the Commercial Code.

57409. A member of the public may obtain a copy of any notice of
claim of lien filed pursuant to this chapter, including notices
affecting the notices. The fee for these copies shall be the same as
that prescribed in Section 9525 of the Commercial Code.

57410. The Secretary of State may adopt any regulations necessary
to carry out his or her duties pursuant to this chapter, including
prescribing necessary forms.

57411. A lien created pursuant to this chapter is assignable or
transferable by the holder of the lien, with full rights of
enforcement. A lienholder's statement of assignment or transfer shall
be filed with the Secretary of State in the same manner as a secured
party's statement of assignment or transfer as prescribed in Section
9514 of the Commercial Code.

57412. The lien claimant shall provide written notice to secured
creditors at least 30 days prior to enforcing a claim of lien. For
the purposes of this section, "secured creditors" means those
creditors having a perfected security interest in dairy cattle, milk,
milk products, or the proceeds thereof, as of the date the notice of
claim of lien is filed with the Secretary of State.

57413. The lien claimant shall foreclose on a lien created by this
chapter only in an action to recover the reasonable or agreed charges
for feed and materials delivered. The final judgment shall be
enforced pursuant to Title 9 (commencing with Section 680.010) of the
Code of Civil Procedure.

57414. (a) When a lien claimant receives payment for amounts
secured by the lien and the lien claimant has not been providing feed
or materials for a period of 30 consecutive days, the lien claimant
shall, on written demand by the debtor, send the debtor a statement
that he or she no longer claims a security interest under the
statement, which shall be identified by date, names of parties
thereto, and file number. If the affected lienholder of record fails
to send such a termination statement within 10 days after proper
demand therefor, he or she shall be liable to the debtor for all
actual damages suffered by the debtor by reason of this failure, and,
if the failure is in bad faith, for a penalty of one hundred dollars
($100).
(b) The filing officer shall mark each termination statement with
the date and time of filing and shall index the statement under the
name of the debtor and under the file number of the original lien. If
the filing officer has a microfilm or other photographic record of
the lien and related filings, he or she may remove the originals from
the files at any time after receipt of the termination statement and
destroy them, or if he or she does not have the record, he or she
may remove them from those files at any time after one year after
receipt of the termination statement and destroy them.