Dixon Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Walters

Walters (defendant), a resident of California, purchased a mobile home in Nevada from Dixon Mobile Homes, Inc. (Dixon) (plaintiff), a Nevada corporation. The sales agreement, which was signed in Nevada, called for the payment of California sales tax but left blanks and failed to recite California’s consumer law regarding buyer’s rights and liabilities. Nevada law did not provide consumers the same protections. The mobile home was delivered to Walters in California, from where Walters mailed payments to Dixon in Nevada. Some payments were late, but they were accepted until Dixon sent agents and employees to California to repossess the mobile home. In that repossession attempt, the agents and employees entered the mobile home, split it, drove heavy vehicles onto Walters’s property, and caused substantial damage until Walters ordered them to leave. Thereafter, Dixon sued Walters in state court in California to recover possession of the mobile home and for a deficiency judgment. Walters counterclaimed (which is a cross-complaint in California) for trespass to chattel and real property, forcible entry and detainer, conversion, misrepresentation, fraud, and violation of California’s consumer law requiring rescission and restitution. Dixon contested the application of California law over Nevada law. The trial court applied California law and awarded judgment to Walters for rescission and possession of the mobile home to Dixon. Dixon appealed and argued that the application of California law was an error.