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Recently, Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code has undergone substantial revisions. All 50 states have been asked to enact the new version with an effective date of July 1, 2001. Currently, thirteen states, including Minnesota, have enacted the latest version. Although it appears that most states will enact the latest version, it is not certain whether they will meet the effective date deadline.

As noted above, there are some substantial revisions to Article 9. These revisions include:

1. New categories of collateral, including deposit accounts, health-care-insurance receivables, commercial tort claims and letter-of-credit rights.

2. New rules for obtaining and perfecting security interests in the new categories of collateral, as well as consumer goods, consumer investments and instruments.

3. New filing locations for tangible collateral such as inventory, equipment and consumer goods, and for debtors that are corporations, LLCs and partnerships.

4. New standard form of financing statement and amendment, including not requiring the debtor to sign the financing statement and allowing either paper or electronic filings.

5. New rules for foreclosure of security interests, including changed procedures for giving notices of foreclosure sales and for accepting collateral in partial satisfaction of debt.

6. Requiring terminations, releases and accounting under certain circumstances.

7. New transition rules for redocumenting existing security interests and filing new financing statements and continuations.

Although North Dakota has not specifically enacted any of these revisions, it is likely that it will happen at some point. It is simply a matter of when and which ones.

(Information contained in this Article provided by John Yilek of Briggs and Morgan, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota)

As many of you are aware, the role a "branch bank" plays in the legal system is often unclear. One example of this occurs with respect to the effect of a sheriff's levy on execution. For example, what happens if a sheriff levies on a branch bank in location but another branch or the main office maintains the account or information?

Unfortunately, there are no North Dakota cases addressing this issue. However, a close reading of the relevant statutes is helpful. North Dakota Century Code § 6-03-13.1 makes it clear that a branch is a separate and discrete entity from the main bank. Likewise, North Dakota Century Code § 41-04-07 similarly provides, for UCC purposes,

A branch or separate office of a bank is a separate bank for the purpose of computing time within which and determining the place at or to which action may be taken or notice or orders must be given under this chapter and under chapter 41-03.

In short, under North Dakota law, a branch bank is clearly not one and the same as the main bank.