Chapter 8 - Agricultural Producer's Liens
CHAPTER 8 - AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER'S LIENS
29-8-101. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Commodity dealer" means a person who engages ina business involving or, as part of the business, participates in buying,exchanging, negotiating or soliciting the sale, resale, exchange, production ortransfer of any farm product in the state of Wyoming. The term does notinclude:
(A) A person engaged solely in storing, shipping or handlingfarm products for hire;
(B) A person who buys farm products from a licensed commoditydealer;
(C) A person who does not purchase more than thirty thousanddollars ($30,000.00) worth of farm products from producers during a licensingyear;
(D) A person who is the producer of farm products that theperson actually plants, nurtures and harvests;
(E) A person whose trading in farm products is limited totrading in commodity futures on a recognized futures exchange; or
(F) A person who buys farm products used exclusively for thefeeding of livestock and not for resale.
(ii) "Contractor" means a person who owns a farmproduct that is produced by a producer according to a contract;
(iii) "Farm products" means all crops, crop products,plants or portions thereof, whether or not they are cleaned, processed,treated, reconditioned, rolled, mixed or combined in any fashion. Farm productsshall not mean livestock;
(iv) "Person" means an individual, trust, partnership,business trust, corporation or unincorporated association or any other legal orcommercial entity;
(v) "Processor" means any person engaged in thebusiness of processing or manufacturing any farm product and who takespossession or control of any farm product for the purpose of processing,cleaning, selling or storing it;
(vi) "Producer" means the owner, tenant or operator ofland located in the state of Wyoming who has an interest in or receives all orpart of the proceeds from the assignment, sale, transfer, exchange orproduction of farm products grown or produced on that land;
(vii) "Public warehouse" or "warehouse" meansan elevator, mill, warehouse, subterminal grain warehouse, public warehouse orother structure or facility in which, for compensation, farm products arereceived for storage, handling, processing or shipment. The term includesfacilities that commingle different lots of farm products;
(viii) "This act" means W.S. 29-8-101 through 29-8-109.
29-8-102. Producer's liens.
(a) W.S. 29-1-101 through 29-7-301 shall not apply to liensfiled under this act.
NOTE: Effective7/1/2011, this section will read as follows:
(a) W.S. 29-1-103 through 29-7-301 shall not apply to liensfiled under this act.
(b) A producer has a lien on all farm products grown orproduced by it and on all proceeds from the assignment, sale, transfer,exchange or other disposition thereof until the producer is paid in full allamounts due the producer for its assignment, sale, transfer, exchange, otherdisposition or production of the farm products.
29-8-103. Notice; filing of notice of claim; contents.
(a) A lien created under W.S. 29-8-102 attaches when the farmproduct is delivered from the producer to the processor, contractor, warehouseoperator or commodity dealer.
(b) A person claiming a lien created by this act shall file awritten notice of claim of lien with the office of the secretary of state notlater than one hundred eighty (180) days after the lien attaches.
(c) The notice of claim of lien required under subsection (b)of this section shall be in the form of a financing statement acceptable forfiling by the office of the secretary of state. The signature of the processor,contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer shall not be required. Thewritten notice of claim filed under subsection (c) of this section shallcontain:
(i) A true statement of the lienholder's claim;
(ii) A description of the farm product delivered sufficient foridentification;
(iii) The lienholder's name, address and phone number,establishing them as a secured party; and
(iv) The name and address of the processor, contractor,warehouse operator or commodity dealer, establishing them as the debtor.
(d) The secretary of state shall keep a record of notices filedunder this section under an index of agricultural liens.
(e) The secretary of state shall charge a fee not exceeding thecost of providing the service for filing of notices and requests for copies ofsuch notices.
(f) When a lienholder files a notice of claim of lien asrequired by this section, the lienholder shall send a copy of the notice to theprocessor, contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer by registered orcertified mail.
(g) When a lienholder files a notice of claim of lien asrequired by this section the lienholder shall send a copy of the notice to allholders of security interests in the farm product described in the notice ofclaim who duly perfected such security interests by filing notice thereof withthe secretary of state. The notice shall be mailed to holders of perfectedsecurity interests within thirty (30) days after the date of filing the noticeof claim.
(h) A lien which has attached under subsection (a) of thissection is perfected upon the completion of the requirements of subsections (a)through (h) of this section. If a person entitled to a lien under this sectiondoes not properly file a notice of claim or properly notify all holders ofsecurity interests of the lien within the time required by this section, theperson waives the right to the lien.
29-8-104. Extent of lien; priority.
(a) The lien shall be to the extent of:
(i) The agreed price, if any, pursuant to the terms of anycontract or for the market value at the time of transfer of ownership if notagreed;
(ii) If the farm product has not been sold or processed by the processor,contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer the lien shall be on thefarm product;
(iii) If the farm product is sold or processed by the processor,contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer the lien shall be on thecash proceeds from the sale. For purposes of this paragraph, cash proceeds heldby the processor, contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer shall bedeemed to be cash proceeds from the sale regardless of whether it isidentifiable cash proceeds;
(iv) If the farm product is processed by the processor,contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer and there is no property ofthe type described in paragraph (ii) or (iii) of this subsection to which thelien can attach, then the lien shall extend to any property of the processor,contractor, warehouse operator or commodity dealer that may be subject to asecurity interest as provided by W.S. 34.1-9-109.
(b) A perfected lien under paragraph (a)(ii) or (iii) of thissection shall be preferred to, and have priority over, a lien or securityinterest in favor of a creditor of the processor, contractor, warehouseoperator or commodity dealer regardless of the time when the creditor's lien orsecurity interest attached to the farm products or the proceeds thereof ortherefrom. The priority of a perfected lien under paragraph (a)(iv) of thissection shall be determined by the date on which the lien is filed as requiredby this act, and it shall not have priority over other perfected liens on thesame property which have been perfected prior to the filing date.
29-8-105. Duration.
(a) A perfected lien created by this act remains in effectuntil either the lienholder receives the full amount due it for the farmproducts, including reasonable costs and attorneys' fees incurred in enforcingthe lien, or for a period of two hundred ten (210) days from the date the lienbecomes perfected as provided in this act.
(b) All actions to foreclose or enforce a lien under thischapter shall be commenced within two hundred forty (240) days after the filingof the lien statement. No lien shall continue to exist except by virtue of theprovisions of this chapter for more than two hundred forty (240) days after thelien is filed unless an action to foreclose the lien is instituted.
(c) Whenever any debt which is a lien pursuant to this act ispaid and satisfied, the lien claimant shall file notice of satisfaction of theclaim of lien in the secretary of state's office.
(d) In addition to any actual damages, any creditor refusing orneglecting to enter satisfaction within thirty (30) days after payment asprovided by subsection (c) of this section and after having received bycertified or registered mail a request in writing for the entering ofsatisfaction is liable for damages of not less than one-tenth of one percent(.10%) of the original principal amount of the debt per day until such time asthe lienholder enters satisfaction. The additional damages authorized by thissection shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) per day.
29-8-106. Waivers unenforceable.
Any provision of a contract which waives aproducer's right or an obligation of a party established by this act is voidand unenforceable. This section does not affect other provisions of thecontract or related document, policy or agreement which can be given effectwithout the voided provision.
29-8-107. Choice of law.
Any condition, stipulation or provisionrequiring the application of the law of another state in lieu of this act isvoid and unenforceable.
29-8-108. Damages, fees, costs and injunctive relief.
(a) A producer who suffers damages because of a violation ofthis act may obtain appropriate legal and equitable relief, including damages,as a suit in common law pursuant to the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure.
(b) In any action by a producer to enforce a perfected liencreated by this act, the court shall award the producer who is the prevailingparty reasonable attorneys' fees and other litigation costs and expenses. Thepayment of any such award shall be secured in the same manner as a lien createdand perfected under this act.
(c) In order to obtain injunctive relief, a producer is notrequired to post a bond, prove the absence of an adequate remedy at law, orshow the existence of special circumstances, unless the court for good causeotherwise orders. The court may order any form of prohibitory or mandatoryrelief that is appropriate under principles of equity, including but notlimited to, issuing a temporary or permanent restraining order.
29-8-109. Applicability of act.
(a) This act applies to contracts executed, entered into,renewed or substantively amended on or after July 1, 2001.
(b) Repealed By Laws 2003, Ch. 63, 1.