Atlas Auto Finance Company v. Atkins

The plaintiff contends that the counter-affidavit of the defendant amounted to a plea of setoff, which could not be pleaded against the foreclosure of a title-retention contract. The defendant contends that the counter-affidavit was not a plea of setoff but one of recoupment. “In a proceeding to foreclose a chattel mortgage, the mortgagor may by affidavit of illegality avail himself of any defense which he might set up in an ordinary suit upon the demand secured by the mortgage, and which, goes to show that the amount claimed is not due and owing; and while the mortgagor is thus permitted to…