Some Utter Customers Left In Limbo Eighteen Buyers Still Unable To Obtain Titles To Vehicles

Jerry Goertz is in a bind.

The Spokane Valley mechanic paid $7,495 cash for a 1990 Ford pickup from Utter Motor Co., but he can’t get Farmers & Merchants Bank to release the title to his vehicle.

The bank hasn’t received funds from Utter, a 54-year-old downtown Cadillac/Infiniti dealership that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. Technically, the bank owns Goertz’s car.

Goertz’s temporary plates expire in about a week. He fears that the bank will seize his car and he’ll be out the cash.

“I feel so frustrated. I’m caught in the middle and there’s no way out,” Goertz said.

Many of the questions surrounding the bankruptcies of Utter Motor Co. and Utter Infiniti have been worked out in the past week. A federal bankruptcy judge approved Barton Oldsmobile’s bid to purchase the troubled dealerships, and the Department of Licensing has resolved complaints for several consumers who couldn’t get their titles.

But Goertz and 17 other car buyers still cannot secure titles, tags or permanent license plates for vehicles they purchased at Utter, according to Department of Licensing records. The consumers must file for special, 30-day temporary plates or wait until a court order forces Farmers & Merchants to release the titles.

Attorneys for Utter filed a motion in bankruptcy court last week to direct a release of the titles. But the motion has already met with objections from Farmers & Merchants Bank and Holms Motors Inc., two of Utter’s major creditors.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court may issue a hearing date on Monday, but it’s still waiting for more creditors to file objections, said a court official working on the case.

“I’m hopeful that something will happen within 30 days, but it all depends on the bankruptcy court,” said Lewis Dennie, regional supervisor for dealer services at the state Department of Licensing. Dennie has spoken with 12 of the titleless car buyers, but six have not yet contacted him.

Joe Delay, attorney for Farmers & Merchants, was unable to return phone calls Friday afternoon. His secretary said he would not comment on the bankruptcy.

Holms Motors Inc. and owner Allan Holms are also major creditors who object to Utter’s motion for a release of titles. Holms loaned Utter more than $700,000 in the form of a personal loan, Holms’ attorney Dan O’Rourke said.

Holms objected to the motion to release titles because it would cause “harm to Holms Motors Inc. and Allan G. Holms.” The motion would release titles before Utter has paid off Holms and other creditors, according to a court document filed Tuesday.

Holms did not return calls and his attorney said he did not know where he was.

Holms, who managed the Utter dealerships for about a year, has also been a car dealer in Montana and North Dakota. Holms “buys or sets up car dealerships and has operated them successfully” except for the Utter dealerships, O’Rourke said.

The Utter dealerships, founded in 1941 by Fred Utter Sr., filed for bankruptcy April 14, almost two weeks after Holms was terminated as manager.

Within days, the Department of Licensing and the state Attorney General began investigations of the dealership on behalf of consumers who did not receive titles for used cars. The incidents occurred while the dealerships were still under Holms’ management.

Holms’ attorney insisted that Holms did not intend to keep titles out of consumers’ hands. Holms was genuinely interested in managing the company well and was not the reason for the company’s bankruptcy, O’Rourke said.

“We don’t know of any embezzlement or anything funny happening. It’s that there were too many claims on the money. There were too many people claiming to be in control and that’s where it got mixed up,” O’Rourke said.

“He was working under a management agreement and abided by the terms of the agreement.”