General Motors Acceptance Corporation v. Crumpton

This action is by. the appellee against the appellant to recover the statutory penalty for failing- to enter satisfaction, after full payment, and request in writing to do so, of a recorded mortgage or conditional sale contract, and the question to be decided is whether or not the instrument in question is a lien and within the provisions of section 9021, or a mortgage and within the provisions of section 9023.

It is the settled rule of our decisions that these statutes are highly penal and must be strictly construed. Scales v. Rosenbush Furniture Co., 212 Ala. 19, 101 So. 743; Wilkerson v.…